This paper reports on a novel oxygen-vacancy (V₀) rich CeO₂ catalyst with single-atom Ni anchored to its surface to enhance H₂O dissociation and achieve efficient photothermal CO₂ reduction under concentrated light irradiation. The catalyst exhibits a CH₄ yield of 192.75 µmol/cm²/h, a solar-to-chemical efficiency of 1.14%, and ~100% selectivity. Mechanistic studies, including DFT and AIMD simulations, reveal the crucial roles of Ni and V₀ in enhancing carrier kinetics and reactant activation, achieving thermally assisted photocatalysis.

Yuqi Ren, Yiwei Fu, Naixu Li, Changjun You, Jie Huang, Kai Huang, Zhenkun Sun, Jiancheng Zhou, Yitao Si, Yuanhao Zhu, Wenshuai Chen, Lunbo Duan, Maochang Liu