Plasmonic Cu-supported amorphous RuP for efficient photothermal CO2 hydrogenation to CO†

The hydrogenation of carbon dioxide into profitable chemicals is a viable path toward achieving the objective of carbon neutrality. However, the typical approach for hydrogenation of CO₂ heavily relies on thermally driven catalysis at high temperatures, which is not aligned with the goals of carbon neutrality. Thus, there is a critical need to explore new catalytic methods for the high-efficiency conversion of CO₂. Herein, we present a new class of catalysts, featuring phosphorus-doped amorphous ruthenium nanoparticles supported on copper nanoparticles, which capitalizes on the plasmonic effects of copper to achieve the photothermal transformation of CO₂ to CO within a gas–solid flow system. Our findings indicated that the reaction efficiency in the presence of photothermal energy was over eight times greater than that with thermal energy alone. The catalyst system exhibited nearly 100% selectivity towards CO under mild conditions, with an impressive CO yield of 123.16 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹. This study highlights the significant potential of amorphous metal phosphides in photocatalytic CO₂ hydrogenation under mild conditions and offers a fresh avenue for the robust catalysis of amorphous materials.