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Harnessing infrared solar energy with plasmonic energy upconversion

Nature Sustainability volume 5, pages 1092–1099 (2022)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 04 November 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Solar radiation is the most abundant renewable energy source, however, its overall utilization remains inefficient as half of the energy is in the form of infrared (IR) light, which cannot be harnessed due to its low energy. Upconversion (UC) is an effective means of converting IR radiation to high-energy light. Here, we show a plasmonic CuS/CdS heterostructured semiconductor that can generate energy comparable to that of visible light from IR radiation, with a high efficiency of up to 5.1%. The unique charge dynamics of this system lead to efficient carrier transfer and long-lived charge separation. As a result, photocatalytic coupled redox reactions occur, including oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde and hydrogen evolution, with activities maintained over one week. This work demonstrates the promise of plasmonic UC for utilizing sustainable energy from low-flux IR light.

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Fig. 1: A schematic diagram of the proposed plasmonic upconversion.
Fig. 2: Structural characterization of the CuS/CdS CWNCs.
Fig. 3: Transient absorption spectra of the CuS NCs and the CuS/CdS CWNCs.
Fig. 4: Photocatalytic activity.

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Data availability

The datasets within the article and Supplementary Information are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Change history

  • 28 October 2022

    In the version of this article initially published online, the Supplementary Information file was incorrect and has now been replaced in the HTML version of the article.

  • 04 November 2022

    A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-01015-2

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a JST JP21H04638 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research [A]) (M.S., K.T. and K.Kobayashi.) and sponsored by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (22109097), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (20ZR1472000) and the Shanghai Pujiang Program (20PJ1411800). This work was also supported by the JST FOREST Program (grant no. PMJFR201M) (M.S.). This work was also supported in part by the NIMS microstructural characterization platform through the Nanotechnology Platform program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan (JPMXP09A17NM0075). We thank N. Tamai for assisting with the femtosecond TAS measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Chemistry, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, P. R. China

    Zichao Lian

  2. Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Zichao Lian, Toshiharu Teranishi & Masanori Sakamoto

  3. Department of Applied Chemistry, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan

    Yoichi Kobayashi

  4. Faculty of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan

    Junie Jhon M. Vequizo & Akira Yamakata

  5. Graduate School of Engineering, Toyota Technological Institute, Hisakata, Tempaku, Nagoya, Japan

    Junie Jhon M. Vequizo, Chandana Sampath Kumara Ranasinghe & Akira Yamakata

  6. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Ibaraki, Japan

    Takuro Nagai & Koji Kimoto

  7. Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

    Katsuaki Kobayashi

  8. Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences, Kyoto University, Yoshidaushinomiyacho, Kyoto, Japan

    Koji Tanaka

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  1. Zichao Lian
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Contributions

Z.L. conceived, designed and carried out the materials fabrication and catalytic reaction experiments. M.S. conceived and designed the experiments. T.T. provided intellectual and technical guidance. J.M.M.V., C.S.K.R., A.Y. and Y.K. carried out the TA experiments. K.Kobayashi and K.T. designed and provided technical guidance for the alcohol oxidation reaction. T.N. and K.Kimoto carried out the high-resolution TEM and elemental mapping. Z.L. and M.S. wrote the manuscript. All authors participated in the discussion of the research.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Toshiharu Teranishi or Masanori Sakamoto.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Mengtao Sun, Reuven Gordon and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Lian, Z., Kobayashi, Y., Vequizo, J.J.M. et al. Harnessing infrared solar energy with plasmonic energy upconversion. Nat Sustain 5, 1092–1099 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00975-9

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