Selective light absorber-assisted single nickel atom catalysts for ambient sunlight-driven CO(2) methanation

Ambient sunlight-driven CO(2) methanation cannot be realized due to the temperature being less than 80 °C upon irradiation with dispersed solar energy. In this work, a selective light absorber was used to construct a photothermal system to generate a high temperature (up to 288 °C) under weak solar irradiation (1 kW m(−2)), and this temperature is three times higher than that in traditional photothermal catalysis systems. Moreover, ultrathin amorphous Y(2)O(3) nanosheets with confined single nickel atoms (SA Ni/Y(2)O(3)) were synthesized, and they exhibited superior CO(2) methanation activity. As a result, 80% CO(2) conversion efficiency and a CH(4) production rate of 7.5 L m(−2) h(−1) were achieved through SA Ni/Y(2)O(3) under solar irradiation (from 0.52 to 0.7 kW m(−2)) when assisted by a selective light absorber, demonstrating that this system can serve as a platform for directly harnessing dispersed solar energy to convert CO(2) to valuable chemicals.