Heterogeneous reduction of carbon dioxide by hydride-terminated silicon nanocrystals.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27550234.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms12553 and PMC identifier 4996982.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Silicon constitutes 28% of the earth's mass. Its high abundance, lack of toxicity and low cost coupled with its electrical and optical properties, make silicon unique among the semiconductors for converting sunlight into electricity. In the quest for semiconductors that can make chemicals and fuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide, unfortunately the best performers are invariably made from rare and expensive elements. Here we report the observation that hydride-terminated silicon nanocrystals with average diameter 3.5 nm, denoted ncSi:H, can function as a single component heterogeneous reducing agent for converting gaseous carbon dioxide selectively to carbon monoxide, at a rate of hundreds of μmol h(-1) g(-1). The large surface area, broadband visible to near infrared light harvesting and reducing power of SiH surface sites of ncSi:H, together play key roles in this conversion. Making use of the reducing power of nanostructured hydrides towards gaseous carbon dioxide is a conceptually distinct and commercially interesting strategy for making fuels directly from sunlight.