Improving the CO2 Hydrogenation Activity of Photocatalysts via the Synergy between Surface Frustrated Lewis Pairs and the CuPt Alloy

Recently, the surface frustrated Lewis pairs (SFLP) have attracted more and more attention in the field of CO2 hydrogenation. The main research studies have focused on a single construction of SFLP; however, the exploration of the synergy between SFLP and other excellent techniques has been barely reported. In this work, a common photocatalyst, TiO2, was chosen as the research object and amorphous TiO2-x(OH)(y) and CuPt alloy were constructed on its surface to investigate the synergy between SFLP and the metal cocatalyst technique. The amorphous TiO2-x(OH)(y) could form effective SFLP to increase CO2 activation, and the CuPt alloy was beneficial for H-2 dissociation to boost the formation of protonated/hydridic H. The synergy resulted in CuPt/TiO2-x(OH)(y)/TiO2 exhibiting significantly increased activity for the reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction compared to those of TiO2-x(OH)(y)/TiO2, CuPt/TiO2, and pristine TiO2. This work highlights an important research direction for the SFLP application in the field of CO2 hydrogenation.