Infrared-Light-Driven CO2 Reduction Realized by a Charge-Asymmetrical Metallic Conductor

Until now, there has been a paradox in the utilization of infrared (IR) light, which carries a significant amount of solar energy (around 50% of the spectrum), for carbon dioxide (CO₂) photoreduction. Given this, we propose a metallic conductor with charge-asymmetrical active sites, which realizes IR-driven CO₂ reduction into C₂ fuels using water as the reducing agent. Taking the CuInS₂ nanosheets as an example, their metallic nature is verified by valence-band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, which enable IR light absorption. Their charge-asymmetrical active sites, confirmed by Bader charge calculations, promote C-C coupling. We employ cobalt atom doping to increase the asymmetric charge distribution on the Cu and In atoms in the CuInS₂ nanosheets, lowering the *COH-CO formation energy barrier. These results further verify that the charge-asymmetrical active sites in a metallic conductor can boost C-C coupling for generating C₂ products for IR-driven CO₂ reduction.