Infrared-Light-Driven CO2 Reduction Realized by a Charge-Asymmetrical Metallic Conductor

Until now, there has been a paradox in the utilization of infrared (IR) light, which carries a significant amount of solar energy (around 50% of the spectrum), for carbon dioxide (CO2) photoreduction. Given this, we propose a metallic conductor with charge-asymmetrical active sites, which realizes IR-driven CO2 reduction into C2 fuels using water as the reducing agent. Taking the CuInS2 nanosheets as an example, their metallic nature is verified by valence-band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, which enable IR light absorption. Their charge-asymmetrical active sites, confirmed by Bader charge calculations, promote C–C coupling. We employ cobalt atom doping to increase the asymmetric charge distribution on the Cu and In atoms in the CuInS2 nanosheets, lowering the *COH–CO formation energy barrier. These results further verify that the charge-asymmetrical active sites in a metallic conductor can boost C–C coupling for generating C2 products for IR-driven CO2 reduction.