Tailoring High‐Entropy Oxide via Grain Boundary Engineering to Establish Adjacent Asymmetric Redox Sites for Full‐Spectrum Photothermal Catalytic CO <sub>2</sub> Reduction
Photothermal catalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction offers a promising route for full-spectrum carbon recycling. While high-entropy oxides (HEO) show potential as photothermal catalysts, their efficiency is often limited by uncoordinated kinetics in CO<sub>2</sub> activation, active proton formation via H<sub>2</sub>O dissociation, and proton migration. Herein, a grain boundaries (GB) engineering strategy is reported to tailor HEO, constructing adjacent asymmetric redox dual sites that simultaneously promote CO<sub>2</sub> activation and proton feeding. Using (CoCrFeMnNi)<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> HEO nanosheets, it is found that a high density of GB induces electronic redistribution and promotes asymmetric oxygen vacancies (Vo) formation, creating abundant polarized Fe-Vo-Cr-O motifs. Specifically, electron-deficient Fe centers function as Lewis acid sites, accelerating H<sub>2</sub>O activation to yield active proton, while adjacent photogenerated electron-rich Cr─O clusters primarily adsorb CO<sub>2</sub> via a bridging mode. Furthermore, the photothermal effect of (CoCrFeMnNi)<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> HEO catalysts leads to a substantial elevation of the catalyst surface temperature, reaching ≈198 °C, synergistically optimizes the thermodynamics and kinetics of the proton-coupled electron transfer process. Consequently, the GB-rich HEO catalysts achieve impressive CH<sub>4</sub> and CO yield rates of 677.7 and 957.2 µmol g<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>, respectively, with a notable apparent quantum yield of 0.38% at 420 nm, highlighting their significant advantage in CO<sub>2</sub> photoreduction.
Authors
- Xin Wen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9704-3549)
- Shicheng Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3432-9117)
- Zhigang Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2092-8335)
- Lang Pei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7186-4832)
- Yu Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0153-3995)
- Xiao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7336-0194)
- Xusheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3145-3830)
- Lixiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4676-1927)
Institutions
- Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN)
- Hangzhou Dianzi University (CN)
- Guilin University of Electronic Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202513596
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00