Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Photocatalysis presents a promising route for generating sustainable, high-energy-density fuels. However, conventional photocatalysts based on rigid binary metal compounds face significant limitations, including fixed band gaps, rapid charge recombination, and non-specific reaction pathways - ultimately leading to limited selectivity and yield. Critically, they lack the site-specific selectivity characteristic of enzymatic systems, a feature essential for achieving high efficiency, control, and precision. Inspired by cytochrome c oxidase, we report the development of Cu-single-atom-enhanced carbon dots as the enzymatic-like photocatalyst. By mimicking enzyme´s site-specific electron transfer cascade, these carbon dots enable the selective photocatalytic reduction of oxygen to hydrogen peroxide under ambient conditions. This study introduces a strategy for translating enzymatic precision into photocatalytic materials design, bridging molecular and materials catalysis for sustainable energy and chemical transformations.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: VSB - Technical University of Ostrava, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Palacký University Olomouc, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Química-Física de los Materiales, Medio Ambiente y Energía, Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Synchrotron SOLEIL
Language: English
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Awards: G1153767801, G1417226337, G1492781007, G2677629327, G2678520069, G2778226874, Single atom based nanohybrid photocatalyts for green fuels, G291036901, G3735356012, G3771185154, G3810236772, G3964980439, G4273056302, G434337789, G4396925471, Advanced Photonic PRocesses for novel sOlar energy hArvesting teCHnologies, G4472258033, G4521969041, G5162580495, G5295502948, G535059049, G6253592498, G6571296797, G7715056472, Lead-Free Double Perovskite Nanocrystals for Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction, G8266516941, G8630459332
OpenAlex ID: W4417089394