SnTa2O6-x nanosheets with strong CO2 adsorption for boosting photothermal CO2 reduction with H2O

Introducing thermal energy into photocatalytic reactions and harnessing the photothermal synergistic effects offer promising prospects for addressing the limitations of photocatalytic reduction of CO2. However, the desorption of CO2 caused by the enhanced reaction temperature is disadvantageous to photothermal CO2 reduction. In this work, the concentration of bridging oxygen vacancies in SnTa2O6-x nanosheets was regulated to enhance CO2 adsorption for efficient photothermal catalytic CO2 reduction. Under the reaction conditions of 150 degrees C and full spectrum light irradiation, the best CO2 reduction performance of SnTa2O6-x reaches up to 210 mu mol h-1 g-1 CO and 29 mu mol h-1 g-1 CH4, outperforming most other photothermal catalysts under similar reaction conditions. The H-SnTa2O6-x exhibited exceptional chemical CO2 adsorption performance, circumventing the adverse effects of reduced CO2 adsorption due to temperature elevation. The introduction of thermal energy facilitated the transfer of more photogenerated electrons to the CO2 molecules adsorbed on H-SnTa2O6-x, consequently promoting CO2 conversion.