Single atomic Pt on amorphous ZrO2 nanowires for advanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction

The photocatalytic reduction of CO2 is a reaction that involves multi-electron and multiconversion processes, and its efficiency is strongly affected by the electron transport pathways on the surface of the catalytic material. Here, Pt single-atom-anchored amorphous ZrO2 nanowires (Pt SA/ZrO2) are fabricated as an efficient photocatalyst for CO2 reduction. The co-catalyst exhibited a superior CO yielding rate (16.61 μmol/g/h) and selectivity (97.6%), outperforming counterparts and most of previously reported ZrO2-based photocatalysts. The amorphous nature endows the material with inherent abundant defects (e.g. oxygen vacancies), and ZrOPt charge bridges allow rapid photoelectron transfer, jointly contributing to the enhanced CO2 reduction performance. We anticipate that design strategies based on anchoring single atoms on amorphous nanosubstrates will inspire further development of advanced photocatalysts.