Correlating Oxidation State and Surface Ligand Motifs with the Selectivity of CO₂ Photoreduction to C₂ Products

Abstract

The design for non-Cu-based catalysts with the function of producing C₂₊ products requires systematic knowledge of the intrinsic connection between the surface state as well as the catalytic activity and selectivity. In this work, photochemical in situ spectral surface characterization techniques combined with the first principle calculations (DFT) were applied to investigate the relationships between the composition of surface states, coordinated motifs, and catalytic selectivity of a titanium oxynitride catalyst. When the catalyst mediates CO₂ photoreduction, C₂ product selectivity is positively correlated with the surface Ti²⁺ /Ti³⁺ ratio and the surface oxidation state is regulated and controlled by coordinated motifs of N-Ti-O/V[O], which can reduce the potential dimerization energy barriers of *CO-CO* and promote spontaneous formation of the subsequent *CO-CH₂ * intermediate. This phenomenon provides a new perspective for the design of heterogeneous catalysts for photoreduction of CO₂ into useful products.