Catalysis

Erbium

Composite number

Engineering

Photochemistry

Materials science

Embedded system

Density functional theory

Computer science

Carbon fibers

Chemical engineering

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Carbon nanotube

Doping

Carbon nitride

Atom (system on chip)

Computational chemistry

Composite material

Chemistry

Selectivity

Photocatalysis

Optoelectronics

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

The solar-driven photocatalytic reduction of CO2 (CO2 RR) into chemical fuels is a promising route to enrich energy supplies and mitigate CO2 emissions. However, low catalytic efficiency and poor selectivity, especially in a pure-water system, hinder the development of photocatalytic CO2 RR owing to the lack of effective catalysts. Herein, we report a novel atom-confinement and coordination (ACC) strategy to achieve the synthesis of rare-earth single erbium (Er) atoms supported on carbon nitride nanotubes (Er1 /CN-NT) with a tunable dispersion density of single atoms. Er1 /CN-NT is a highly efficient and robust photocatalyst that exhibits outstanding CO2 RR performance in a pure-water system. Experimental results and density functional theory calculations reveal the crucial role of single Er atoms in promoting photocatalytic CO2 RR.

Rare‐Earth Single Erbium Atoms for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO <sub>2</sub> Reduction

Rare‐Earth Single Erbium Atoms for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO 2 Reduction

Rare‐Earth Single Erbium Atoms for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO ₂ Reduction