TY - JOUR
T1 - Surface-Functionalized Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis
AU - Martí, Gerard
AU - Mallón, Laura
AU - Romero, Nuria
AU - Francàs, Laia
AU - Bofill, Roger
AU - Philippot, Karine
AU - García-Antón, Jordi
AU - Sala, Xavier
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Energy Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - Analogously to enzymatic catalysis, where the active metal sites and their environment are controlled by protein residues, the catalytic properties of metal nanoparticles (NPs) can be tuned by carefully selecting their surface-coordinated species. In artificial photosynthesis, surface-functionalization emerged in the last decade, grounded on the development of reliable methods for tailored synthesis, advanced characterization and theoretical modeling of metal NPs, altogether with the aim of transferring to the nanoscale the mechanistic knowledge acquired from molecular complexes. Metal NPs surface-functionalization modulates the energetics of key catalytic intermediates, introduces second coordination sphere effects, influences the catalyst-electrolyte interface, and determines the metal NPs surface coverage and, accordingly, the number of accessible active sites. In photoactivated systems, metal NPs surface-functionalization may play a key role in modulating the charge transfers and recombination processes between the light absorber and the active sites and in the light absorber itself. Thus, after a presentation of the most relevant synthetic methods to produce well-defined surface-functionalized metal NPs, a critical analysis of why the above effects are the cornerstone in enhancing their catalytic performance in the key processes of artificial photosynthesis, namely the oxygen evolution reaction, the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the CO2 reduction reaction, is given.
AB - Analogously to enzymatic catalysis, where the active metal sites and their environment are controlled by protein residues, the catalytic properties of metal nanoparticles (NPs) can be tuned by carefully selecting their surface-coordinated species. In artificial photosynthesis, surface-functionalization emerged in the last decade, grounded on the development of reliable methods for tailored synthesis, advanced characterization and theoretical modeling of metal NPs, altogether with the aim of transferring to the nanoscale the mechanistic knowledge acquired from molecular complexes. Metal NPs surface-functionalization modulates the energetics of key catalytic intermediates, introduces second coordination sphere effects, influences the catalyst-electrolyte interface, and determines the metal NPs surface coverage and, accordingly, the number of accessible active sites. In photoactivated systems, metal NPs surface-functionalization may play a key role in modulating the charge transfers and recombination processes between the light absorber and the active sites and in the light absorber itself. Thus, after a presentation of the most relevant synthetic methods to produce well-defined surface-functionalized metal NPs, a critical analysis of why the above effects are the cornerstone in enhancing their catalytic performance in the key processes of artificial photosynthesis, namely the oxygen evolution reaction, the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the CO2 reduction reaction, is given.
KW - artificial photosynthesis
KW - CO reduction reaction
KW - hydrogen evolution reaction
KW - oxygen evolution reaction
KW - surface-functionalized nanoparticles
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152783112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/956827a4-26f0-3ee8-b57d-b382b9e9f839/
UR - https://portalrecerca.uab.cat/en/publications/f3d3f1f8-fa90-44fe-9d88-194099c77309
U2 - 10.1002/aenm.202300282
DO - 10.1002/aenm.202300282
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85152783112
SN - 1614-6832
VL - 13
JO - Advanced Energy Materials
JF - Advanced Energy Materials
IS - 21
M1 - 2300282
ER -