Light-activated tandem catalysis driven by multicomponent nanomaterials

Transitioning energy-intensive and environmentally intensive processes toward sustainable conditions is necessary in light of the current global condition. To this end, photocatalytic processes represent new approaches for H₂ generation; however, their application toward tandem catalytic reactivity remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate that metal oxide materials decorated with noble metal nanoparticles advance visible light photocatalytic activity toward new reactions not typically driven by light. For this, Pd nanoparticles were deposited onto Cu₂O cubes to generate a composite structure. Once characterized, their hydrodehalogenation activity was studied via the reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls. To this end, tandem catalytic reactivity was observed with H₂ generation via H₂O reduction at the Cu₂O surface, followed by dehalogenation at the Pd using the in situ generated H₂. Such results present methods to achieve sustainable catalytic technologies by advancing photocatalytic approaches toward new reaction systems.