Sunlight-Fueled, Low-Temperature Ru-Catalyzed Conversion of CO₂ and H₂ to CH₄ with a High Photon-to-Methane Efficiency

Abstract

Methane, which has a high energy storage density and is safely stored and transported in our existing infrastructure, can be produced through conversion of the undesired energy carrier H₂ with CO₂. Methane production with standard transition-metal catalysts requires high-temperature activation (300-500 °C). Alternatively, semiconductor metal oxide photocatalysts can be used, but they require high-intensity UV light. Here, we report a Ru metal catalyst that facilitates methanation below 250 °C using sunlight as an energy source. Although at low solar intensity (1 sun) the activity of the Ru catalyst is mainly attributed to thermal effects, we identified a large nonthermal contribution at slightly elevated intensities (5.7 and 8.5 sun) resulting in a high photon-to-methane efficiency of up to 55% over the whole solar spectrum. We attribute the excellent sunlight-harvesting ability of the catalyst and the high photon-to-methane efficiency to its UV-vis-NIR plasmonic absorption. Our highly efficient conversion of H₂ to methane is a promising technology to simultaneously accelerate the energy transition and reduce CO₂ emissions.