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<p>Upon illumination, photocatalysts generate charge carriers for redox reactions, but their efficiency is often limited by carrier recombination and poor minority-carrier diffusion, despite many existing junction engineering strategies. Here we exploit the insulator–metal transition in VO<sub>2</sub> to produce a material that promotes efficient charge separation and enhances the photocatalytic conversion of methane through the spontaneous formation of junctions. We find that the photocatalytic activity peaks at the critical temperature of the transition, which we attribute to coexisting insulating and metallic domains with non-integer dimensional boundaries and sizes smaller than the minority-carrier diffusion length. Increasing the charge-separating interface length by decreasing the film thickness improves the photocatalytic activity and C–C coupling between alkoxy intermediates, leading to a propane selectivity of 100%. Moreover, electrically triggering the phase transition at lower temperatures further boosts methane conversion via field-assisted carrier activation. Overall, the metal–insulator transition provides an effective alternative to complex nanoscale junction engineering in photocatalysis.</p>

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Exploiting the insulator–metal transition of VO2 in photocatalytic methane conversion

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月17日

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  • My Nghe Tran,
  • Duc Manh Nguyen,
  • Matthieu Kpessu Ahounou,
  • Ernesto de la Torre Miranda,
  • Melissa Alzate Banguero,
  • David Troadec,
  • Christophe Coinon,
  • Ahmed Addad,
  • Karima Ben Tayeb,
  • Alexandre Boulle,
  • Pascale Diener,
  • David Mele,
  • Louis Thomas,
  • Xavier Wallart,
  • Lionel Aigouy,
  • Alexandre Zimmers,
  • Aurelian Crunteanu,
  • Vitaly Ordomsky,
  • Bruno Grandidier

摘要

Upon illumination, photocatalysts generate charge carriers for redox reactions, but their efficiency is often limited by carrier recombination and poor minority-carrier diffusion, despite many existing junction engineering strategies. Here we exploit the insulator–metal transition in VO2 to produce a material that promotes efficient charge separation and enhances the photocatalytic conversion of methane through the spontaneous formation of junctions. We find that the photocatalytic activity peaks at the critical temperature of the transition, which we attribute to coexisting insulating and metallic domains with non-integer dimensional boundaries and sizes smaller than the minority-carrier diffusion length. Increasing the charge-separating interface length by decreasing the film thickness improves the photocatalytic activity and C–C coupling between alkoxy intermediates, leading to a propane selectivity of 100%. Moreover, electrically triggering the phase transition at lower temperatures further boosts methane conversion via field-assisted carrier activation. Overall, the metal–insulator transition provides an effective alternative to complex nanoscale junction engineering in photocatalysis.