Effect of secondary phases on the selectivity of CO2 reduction properties of Mg-based alloy.

It is a great challenge to achieve adsorption and desorption of H 2 on magnesium-based metal materials under room temperature and ambient pressure. To address this problem, we proposed a strategy to tailing the secondary phases in Mg alloy to directly drive catalytic reactions, and utilizing ambient sunlight-driven solar energy to convert heat energy to promote the adsorption and reaction of H 2 and CO 2 gas. Thus, the magnesium-based materials can convert CO 2 into CO and CH 4 under sunlight. Here we report a magnesium-based material LiAlSiO 4 /Mg, where MgO/Mg interface and Li 4 SiO 4 particles play different roles in production CO or CH 4 under varied solar energy. The large amount of MgO reduced the adsorption of H 2 on Mg, while the existence of Li 4 SiO 4 enhanced the production rate of CO. This work explores the functional applications of main-group alloys and paves the way towards ambient sunlight-driven adsorption and use of hydrogen. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]