Plasmonic Titanium Nitride Tubes Decorated with Ru Nanoparticles as Photo-Thermal Catalyst for CO2 Methanation

Diego Mateo*, Juan Carlos Navarro, Il Son Khan, Javier Ruiz-Martinez, Jorge Gascon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Photo-thermal catalysis has recently emerged as a viable strategy to produce solar fuels or chemicals using sunlight. In particular, nanostructures featuring localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) hold great promise as photo-thermal catalysts given their ability to convert light into heat. In this regard, traditional plasmonic materials include gold (Au) or silver (Ag), but in the last years, transition metal nitrides have been proposed as a cost-efficient alternative. Herein, we demonstrate that titanium nitride (TiN) tubes derived from the nitridation of TiO2 precursor display excellent light absorption properties thanks to their intense LSPR band in the visible–IR regions. Upon deposition of Ru nanoparticles (NPs), Ru-TiN tubes exhibit high activity towards the photo-thermal CO2 reduction reaction, achieving remarkable methane (CH4 ) production rates up to 1200 mmol g−1 h−1 . Mechanistic studies suggest that the reaction pathway is dominated by thermal effects thanks to the effective light-to-heat conversion of Ru-TiN tubes. This work will serve as a basis for future research on new plasmonic structures for photo-thermal applications in catalysis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2701
JournalMolecules
Volume27
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2022

Keywords

  • Carbon dioxide
  • Methanation
  • Photo-thermal catalysis
  • Plasmon resonance
  • Titanium nitride

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Chemistry (miscellaneous)
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

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