Photothermal Catalysis

An expanding area of study within heterogeneous catalysis is photothermal catalysis. It differs from both heat-driven thermochemical catalysis and light-driven photochemical catalysis. Instead, photothermal catalysis takes advantage of the sun's broad spectrum absorption to activate a mix of thermochemical and photochemical processes that work together to fuel catalytic reactions. In particular, it is proving to be a successful and promising method for turning CO2 into synthetic fuels. The photothermal effect has been widely observed in a variety of photothermal materials, such as inorganic materials and organic materials (for example, polymers)22, which convert incident light into thermal energy (heat) under irradiation. When compared to other solar energy utilisation technologies, a photothermal process can exhibit the highest possible efficiency of energy conversion.