Near-field assisted CO2 reduction

In order to work toward a method for photoreduction of CO₂ using the solar spectrum, we have investigated the effects of the optical near-field (ONF) on the absorption of CO₂, a very stable molecule with high absorption and dissociation energies, by introducing ZnO nanorods to generate the ONF. The CO₂ absorption bands under light with a wavelength longer than the absorption wavelength confirmed the ONF-assisted energy up-conversion. In addition, the specific CO₂ modes related to this process are evaluated using vibration-rotation spectra, and it is found that the ONF causes a significant increase in the intensity of certain absorption bands, especially those that require higher energies to activate.

Related publication

1. N. Tanjeem, T. Kawazoe, and T. Yatsui, “CO2 phonon mode renormalization using phonon-assisted energy up-conversion,” Scientific Reports, Vol. 3, Article number: 3341, November 2013, doi:10.1038/srep03341 (8 pages)
2. T. Yatsui, Y. Nakahira, Y. Nakamura, T. Morimoto, Y. Kato, M. Yamamoto, T. Yoshida, K. Iida, and K. Nobusada, “Realization of red shift of absorption spectra using optical near-field effect,” Nanotechnology, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/ab2092