Photothermal Catalytic CO ₂ Dissociation Over Nb ₂ O ₅ –Nb ₂ CT <i> _x </i> Schottky Heterostructures

Solar‐driven CO 2 dissociation reaction via a two‐step thermochemical cycle is a promising option, but it requires extremely high reaction temperatures (&gt;1000°C). Herein, we designed Nb 2 O 5 –Nb 2 CT x Schottky heterostructures that could achieve photoinduced thermochemical CO 2 dissociation reaction at 300°C. Under light irradiation, the CO production rate of Nb 2 O 5 –Nb 2 CT x reaches to 70.1 μmol g −1 h −1 , which is three times higher than that of pristine Nb 2 O 5 . The high activity arose from the superior photothermal conversion efficiency of Nb 2 CT x , fast charge separation and transfer kinetics from the Schottky heterostructures, increased surface CO 2 adsorption sites from photoinduced oxygen vacancies, and efficient redox cycling ability. This work presents a feasible strategy to fabricate photothermal synergistic catalysts which could achieve stable CO 2 dissociation performance at mild reaction temperature.