Selective CO 2 photoreduction to hydrocarbon fuels such as CH 4 is promising and sustainable for carbonneutral future. However, lack of proper binding strengths with reaction intermediates makes it still a challenge for photocatalytic CO 2 methanation with both high activity and selectivity. Here, low-coordination single Au atoms (Au 1 -S 2 ) on ultrathin ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets was synthesized by a complex-exchange route, enabling exceptional photocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance. Under visible light irradiation, Au 1 /ZnIn 2 S 4 catalyst exhibits a CH 4 yield of 275 μmol g À 1 h À 1 with a selectivity as high as 77 %. As revealed by detailed characterizations and density functional theory calculations, Au 1 / ZnIn 2 S 4 with Au 1 -S 2 structure not only display fast carrier transfer to underpin its superior activity, but also greatly reduce the energy barrier for protonation of *CO and stabilize the *CH 3 intermediate, thereby leading to the selective CH 4 generation from CO 2 photoreduction.

The electrocatalytic oxidation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a promising method for the efficient production of biomass‐derived high‐value‐added chemicals. However, its practical application is limited by 1) low activity and selectivity caused by the competitive adsorption of HMF and OH− and 2) low operational stability caused by the uncontrollable reconstruction of the catalyst. To overcome these limitations, a series of Ni3S2/NiOx‐n catalysts with controllable compositions and well‐defined structures were synthesized using a novel in‐situ controlled surface reconstruction strategy. The adsorption behavior of HMF and OH− could be continuously adjusted by varying the ratio of NiOx to Ni3S2 on the catalysts surface, as indicated by in‐situ characterizations, contact angle analysis and theoretical simulations. Owing to the balanced competitive adsorption of HMF and OH−, the optimized Ni3S2/NiOx‐15 catalyst exhibited remarkable HMF electrocatalytic oxidation performance, with the current density reaching 366 mA cm−2 at 1.5 VRHE and the Faradaic efficiency of the product, 2,5‐furanedicarboxylic acid, reaching 98%. Moreover, Ni3S2/NiOx‐15 exhibited excellent durability, with its activity and structure remaining stable for over 100 h of operation. This study provides a new route for the design and construction of catalysts for value‐added biomass conversion and offers new insights into enhancing catalytic performance by balancing competitive adsorption.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have recently emerged as promising photocatalysts for CO 2 reduction; however, understanding their interplay between the local electronic structure and the overall performance at an atomic level still remains elusive. Here, we construct two Ni-SACs at different sites of WO 2.72 nanowires, i.e., bulk doping of single Ni atoms in WO 2.72 (B-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 ) and surface anchoring of single Ni atoms on WO 2.72 (S-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 ), to unravel the electronic structure manipulation for boosting CO 2 photoreduction. Impressively, B-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 displays superior photocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance to S-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 , reaching a CO yield of 80.5 mmol g −1 h −1 with a selectivity of 98.7%. Experimental results and computational calculations reveal that compared to S-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 , B-Ni 1 /WO 2.72 is endowed with improved charge transfer and a more upshifted d-band center, thereby leading to CO production with concurrent high activity and selectivity. This work provides deeper insights into the exploration of efficient SACs for artificial photosynthesis to targeted products by optimization of their site-related electronic structures.

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Selective CO 2 photoreduction to hydrocarbon fuels such as CH 4 is promising and sustainable for carbonneutral future. However, lack of proper binding strengths with reaction intermediates makes it still a challenge for photocatalytic CO 2 methanation with both high activity and selectivity. Here, low-coordination single Au atoms (Au 1 -S 2 ) on ultrathin ZnIn 2 S 4 nanosheets was synthesized by a complex-exchange route, enabling exceptional photocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance. Under visible light irradiation, Au 1 /ZnIn 2 S 4 catalyst exhibits a CH 4 yield of 275 μmol g À 1 h À 1 with a selectivity as high as 77 %. As revealed by detailed characterizations and density functional theory calculations, Au 1 / ZnIn 2 S 4 with Au 1 -S 2 structure not only display fast carrier transfer to underpin its superior activity, but also greatly reduce the energy barrier for protonation of *CO and stabilize the *CH 3 intermediate, thereby leading to the selective CH 4 generation from CO 2 photoreduction.

Phenolic molecules are a kind of toxic organic pollutants commonly discharged from industrial effluents. Catalytic ozonation holds great potential in removing phenolic pollutants and further improving the removal efficiency is still the research focus of this field. In this study, defect engineering was used to construct Bi 2 O 3 with rich oxygen vacancies (denoted as O v -Bi 2 O 3 ). O v -Bi 2 O 3 was found to exhibit efficient activity toward the removal of phenolic derivatives. Combined DFT calculations and experimental results suggest that oxygen vacancies play two important roles: (1) the exposed Bi sites induced by rich oxygen vacancies endow a special bridging O 3 adsorption, which is beneficial to improve the kinetics of O 3 decomposition; (2) O 2 produced during the O 3 decomposition process can be reutilized to generate 1 O 2 , which prolongs the utilization efficiency of O 3 . In addition, O v -Bi 2 O 3 was loaded onto carbon fiber, which also demonstrates efficient activity. This work provides an alternative way to design efficient catalysts toward removal of phenolic pollutants via ozone oxidation.

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