From Photocatalysis to Photon-Phonon Co-driven Catalysis for Small Molecules Activation

ABSTRACT

Photon-driven small molecules activation, eg. H₂O splitting, methanol reforming and methane conversion is scientifically and industrially of significance as it promises an efficient pathway for solar energy utilization and a green approach for chemical synthesis. However it is kinetically very challenging due to a multi-electron/hole process [1]. To achieve this potential, efficient activation of these small molecules (e.g. N₂, H₂O and CH₄ etc) are important while rather challenging.

Our early study on charge dynamics in inorganic catalysts reveals that the current low solar to fuel/chemical conversion efficiency is due to both fast charge recombination and sluggish oxidation reaction [2], we thus developed effective material strategies to improve the activities of catalysts. Importantly, we discovered that coupling photons with phonons to co-drive catalytic reactions is significantly more efficient and selective compared to solely relying on photocatalysis, which has been demonstrated in a few scenarios, including methane conversion to formaldehyde on Ru single atoms loaded on ZnO [3], methane to C₂H₆ over Au-immobilised TiO₂ [4] etc, all with extremely high conversion and selectivity. Typically, we also found that photon-phonon co-driven process over single atom catalysts could dramatically improve H₂ production from methanol reforming [5]. Very recently, we developed a new concept of an intramolecular junction, which is composed of alternate benzene and triazine motifs in CTF polymer. Such structure can facilitate fast charge separation and is characterised by spatially separated reduction and oxidation sites in one molecular unit, thus substantially improving the methane conversion to ethanol and mitigating the overoxidation to CO₂, resulting in an unprecedented ethanol yield and selectivity of 80% operated under ambient condition [6].

References

1. Wang, Y.; Vogel, A.; Sachs, M; Sprick, R.S.; Wilbraham,L.; Moniz, S.J.A.; Godin, R.; Zwijnenburg, M.A.; Durrant, J.R.; Cooper, A.I.; Tang, J, Nature Energy, 2019, 4, 746-760 (2019).

2. Tang, J.; Durrant, J.; Klug, D. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130 (42), 13885-13891 (2008).

3. Xu, Y.; Wang, C.; Li, X.; Xiong, L.; Zhang, T.; Zhang, L; Zhang, Q.; Gu, L.; Lan, L.; Tang, J., Nature Sustainability, 7, 1171–1181 (2024).

4. Li, X.; Li, C.; Xu, Y.; Liu, Q.; Bahri; M., Zhang, L.; Browning, N.D.; Cowan^, A.J.; Tang, J., Nature Energy, 8, 1013–1022 (2023).

5. Wang, H., Qi, H., Sun, X., Jia, S., Li, X., Miao, T.J., Xiong, L., Wang, S., Zhang, X., Liu, X., Wang, a., Zhang, T., Huang, W., Tang, J. Nature Materials, 22, 619–626 (2023).

6. Xie, J.; Fu, C.; Quesne, M.G.; Guo, J.; Wang, C.; Xiong, L.; Windle, C.D.; Gadipelli, S.; Guo, Z.X.; Huang, W.; Catlow, C.R.A.; Tang, J., Nature, 639, 368-374 (2025)

BIO

Prof. Junwang (John) Tang is the Director of Industrial Catalysis Center in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Carbon Neutrality Chair Professor of Materials Chemistry and Catalysis at Tsinghua University, China and a Visiting Professor at University College London, UK. He earned his BSc in Chemistry with first-class honors from Northeastern University in 1995, followed by an MSc in Inorganic Materials from the Institute of Metal Research in 1998 and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in 2001. Then he was appointed as a JSPS Fellow at NIMS in Japan (2002-2005), a Senior Researcher at Imperial College London, UK (2005-2009), and a Faculty Member at University College London in the UK (2009-2022). His research concentrates on chemical storage of renewable energy and development of sustainable chemical processes. Prof. Tang is a Member of the Academia of Europaea, a Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, Fellow of RSC, Fellow of IMMM and Honorary Fellow of CCS. He has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including 2025 Winner in Engineering & Technology of Falling Walls Science Summit, 2022 IChemE Oil and Gas Global Awards, 2021 IChemE Andrew Medal, the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize 2021, 2021 Royal Society-Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship and 2019 IChemE Global Business Start-Up Award etc.