Nature-Inspired Nanoarray Catalyst toward Balanced Heat and Mass Transport in Photothermal Catalysis.

Abstract

Photothermal catalysis represents a clean, efficient, and sustainable approach to harnessing solar energy to drive chemical reactions. However, the inherent trade-off between mass and heat transport efficiencies poses significant challenges to its applicability. Herein, a nature-inspired hollow silica nanocone array catalyst (HSNCA/Co) is developed to address this limitation by enhancing the heat management and sunlight-absorptive ability, while maintaining the exposure of active sites. The nanocone array structure creates dual-flow-rate regions that enable the multidimensional optimization of thermal management and simultaneous mitigation of all three primary heat dissipation pathways. Moreover, the dense silica array enhances light trapping and plasmon coupling efficacy, achieving nearly 99% broadband absorption. In a CO₂ hydrogenation model reaction, this system achieved a CO₂ conversion rate of 4427.2 mmol g_Co^-1 h^-1 under intense illumination, achieving one of the highest reported performances among cobalt-based catalysts. This study emphasizes the role of light-to-heat conversion in photothermal catalysis and offers a potential strategy for the design of catalytic materials.