Rare-Earth Single Erbium Atoms for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction

The solar-driven photocatalytic reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) 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 CO2RR 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 (Er-1/CN-NT) with a tunable dispersion density of single atoms. Er-1/CN-NT is a highly efficient and robust photocatalyst that exhibits outstanding CO2RR performance in a pure-water system. Experimental results and density functional theory calculations reveal the crucial role of single Er atoms in promoting photocatalytic CO2RR.