Phosphorus Tailors the d-Band Center of Copper Atomic Sites for Efficient CO2 Photoreduction under Visible-Light Irradiation.

Photoreduction of CO2 into solar fuels has received great interest, but suffers from low catalytic efficiency and poor selectivity. Herein, two single-Cu-atom catalysts with unique Cu configurations in phosphorus-doped carbon nitride (PCN), namely, Cu1 N3 @PCN and Cu1 P3 @PCN were fabricated via selective phosphidation, and tested in visible light-driven CO2 reduction by H2 O without sacrificial agents. Cu1 N3 @PCN was exclusively active for CO production with a rate of 49.8 µmolCO gcat -1 h-1 , outperforming most polymeric carbon nitride (C3 N4 ) based catalysts, while Cu1 P3 @PCN preferably yielded H2 . Experimental and theoretical analysis suggested that doping P in C3 N4 by replacing a corner C atom upshifted the d-band center of Cu in Cu1 N3 @PCN close to the Fermi level, which boosted the adsorption and activation of CO2 on Cu1 N3 , making Cu1 N3 @PCN efficiently convert CO2 to CO. In contrast, Cu1 P3 @PCN with a much lower Cu 3d electron energy exhibited negligible CO2 adsorption, thereby preferring H2 formation via photocatalytic H2 O splitting.