Au Cluster–Nanoparticle\nDual Coupling for Photocatalytic\nCO<sub>2</sub> Conversion

CO<sub>2</sub>-selective photoreduction to value-added\nproducts\nis ideal, but its practical application suffers from weak photogenerated\ncarrier separation and insufficient multielectron transport. Herein,\nwe constructed the tricomponent AuNPs@SnO<sub>2</sub>–AuNCs\nhybrid by decorating Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) on the Au nanoparticle\n(AuNPs)@SnO<sub>2</sub> core–shell structure. AuNC–NP\ndual coupling endowed AuNPs@SnO<sub>2</sub>–AuNCs with an excellent\nCO yield of 64.8 μmol g<sup>–1</sup> h<sup>–1</sup> during CO<sub>2</sub> photoreduction, which was higher than the\nrole of separate application of AuNCs (25.3 μmol g<sup>–1</sup> h<sup>–1</sup>) and AuNPs (16.0 μmol g<sup>–1</sup> h<sup>–1</sup>). It was mainly attributed that the coaction\nof AuNPs and AuNCs not only enhanced the visible light absorption\ncapacity but also improved the photogenerated carrier separation/migration.\nAs a result, the electron-rich AuNCs induced from plasmonic AuNPs\nand photoexcited SnO<sub>2</sub> promoted the photocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub>-to-CO performance. This work provides a new perspective to\ndesign multicomponent photocatalysts for highly efficient CO<sub>2</sub> conversion.