IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms12553.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heterogeneous reduction of carbon dioxide by hydride-terminated silicon nanocrystals

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Sun

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Chenxi Qian

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Le He

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto
    Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University)

  • Kulbir Kaur Ghuman

    (University of Toronto)

  • Annabelle P. Y. Wong

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Jia Jia

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

  • Feysal M. Ali

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

  • Paul G. O’Brien

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Laura M. Reyes

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Thomas E. Wood

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Amr S. Helmy

    (University of Toronto)

  • Charles A. Mims

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

  • Chandra Veer Singh

    (University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

  • Geoffrey A. Ozin

    (Solar Fuels Research Cluster, University of Toronto)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Sun & Chenxi Qian & Le He & Kulbir Kaur Ghuman & Annabelle P. Y. Wong & Jia Jia & Feysal M. Ali & Paul G. O’Brien & Laura M. Reyes & Thomas E. Wood & Amr S. Helmy & Charles A. Mims & Chandra Veer , 2016. "Heterogeneous reduction of carbon dioxide by hydride-terminated silicon nanocrystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12553
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12553
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms12553?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shenghua Wang & Dake Zhang & Wu Wang & Jun Zhong & Kai Feng & Zhiyi Wu & Boyu Du & Jiaqing He & Zhengwen Li & Le He & Wei Sun & Deren Yang & Geoffrey A. Ozin, 2022. "Grave-to-cradle upcycling of Ni from electroplating wastewater to photothermal CO2 catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.