A nickel gallium oxide chlorophyll mimic for green methanol synthesis
Light-driven methanol synthesis from CO<sub>2</sub> provides a sustainable fuel source and approach to carbon neutralization. Mimicking natural photosynthesis could improve gas-solid photocatalytic efficiency, but it remains highly challenging due to the absence of well-organized mass and charge transfer networks in artificial materials. Herein, we report a chlorophyll-mimicking, nano-pigment nickel gallium oxide, which facilitates discrete light/dark reactions and proton-mediated charge transfer for efficient photocatalytic hydrogenation of CO<sub>2</sub> to methanol. This nano-pigment features surface frustrated Lewis pairs, enabling heterolytic hydrogen splitting into H<sup>-</sup> and H<sup>+</sup>. The H<sup>-</sup> acts analogously to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate in natural photosynthesis, with Ni(II)/Ni(III) and OH(-I) respectively serving as conduits for ion transport of H<sup>-</sup> and H<sup>+</sup> to the Ni site, where they subsequently react with CO<sub>2</sub>, mimicking natural carbon fixation. This approach establishes a chlorophyll-mimetic structure for photocatalytic stepwise CO<sub>2</sub> hydrogenation, achieving 3.0% quantum efficiency, 3.20 mmol·h<sup>-1</sup>·g<sup>-1</sup> methanol activity, and 79.6% selectivity.
Authors
- Camilo J. Viasus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6093-7466)
- Yubin Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2613-394X)
- Joel Y. Y. Loh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3385-5526)
- Chenyue Qiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3703-4058)
- Yangfan Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4479-6157)
- Jigang Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6644-2862)
- Xingda An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7484-7410)
- Athanasios A. Tountas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8902-4751)
- Zhiwen Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0155-2101)
- Wenqiang Qu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3861-6612)
- Paul N. Duchesne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9046-1198)
- Le He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4520-0482)
- Jessica Ye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-553X)
- Jiuli Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4049-6795)
- Dengwei Jing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6062-9239)
- Guangming Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5799-6445)
- Alán Aspuru‐Guzik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8277-4434)
- Xiaoliang Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6860-4770)
- Chandra Veer Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6644-0178)
- Rui Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6965-0621)
- Abhinav Mohan
- Zhihao Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5447-9163)
- Chaoqian Ai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6928-7526)
- Geoffrey A. Ozin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6315-0925)
- Emerson M. MacNeil
- Xiaohong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6732-2499)
- Lu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4165-4022)
- Zhao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6043-7077)
- Andrew Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3647-5000)
- Chang Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5496-4564)
- Zhijie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9232-7382)
- Chaoran Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9517-8431)
- Jiajun Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8597-6971)
Institutions
- Fleming College (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Queen's University (CA)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Soochow University (CN)
- Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (DE)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CN)
- Anyang Normal University (CN)
- Xi’an International University (CN)
- China Agricultural University (CN)
- Canadian Light Source (Canada) (CA)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Taiyuan University of Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65560-y
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.36
Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- University of Toronto
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
- Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation