Solar Reforming of Biomass with Homogeneous Carbon Dots

Demetra S Achilleos; Wenxing Yang; Hatice Kasap; Aleksandr Savateev; Yevheniia Markushyna; James R Durrant; Erwin Reisner

doi:10.1002/anie.202008217

Solar Reforming of Biomass with Homogeneous Carbon Dots

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Oct 5;59(41):18184-18188. doi: 10.1002/anie.202008217. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Authors

Demetra S Achilleos^{1

2}, Wenxing Yang³, Hatice Kasap¹, Aleksandr Savateev⁴, Yevheniia Markushyna⁴, James R Durrant³, Erwin Reisner¹

Affiliations

¹ Christian Doppler Laboratory for Sustainable SynGas Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
² Present address: School of Chemistry, University College Dublin, Science Centre South, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
³ Molecular Sciences Research Hub and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK.
⁴ Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Research Campus Golm, 14424, Potsdam, Germany.

Abstract

A sunlight-powered process is reported that employs carbon dots (CDs) as light absorbers for the conversion of lignocellulose into sustainable H₂ fuel and organics. This photocatalytic system operates in pure and untreated sea water at benign pH (2-8) and ambient temperature and pressure. The CDs can be produced in a scalable synthesis directly from biomass itself and their solubility allows for good interactions with the insoluble biomass substrates. They also display excellent photophysical properties with a high fraction of long-lived charge carriers and the availability of a reductive and an oxidative quenching pathway. The presented CD-based biomass photoconversion system opens new avenues for sustainable, practical, and renewable fuel production through biomass valorization.

Keywords: biomass; carbon dots; hydrogen; organics; photoreforming.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't