Photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (CO₂PR) has great potential in the production of valuable commercial chemicals and fuels. By utilizing sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbon based fuels, high value-added carbon based fuels or other chemicals can be prepared while reducing the CO₂ content in the atmosphere. It has the advantages of being green and sustainable, and has great research prospects. Among them, due to the fact that the infrared (IR) region occupies half of the solar energy, utilizing infrared light to drive CO₂ reduction reactions can maximize the utilization of the solar spectrum. However, infrared light has low energy and is prone to generating local heat, and most commonly used photocatalysts have band gaps greater than 1.8 eV, making it difficult to drive reactions using infrared light (hv<1.55 eV). So far, only a few studies have reported that infrared light driven CO₂ reduction can be achieved.

We focused on hydrotalcite and constructed nickel aluminum hydrotalcite (NiAl-Ru-LDH) intercalated with ortho phenanthroline ruthenium ([Ru (dpds) ₃] ^4-) through the design of interlayer exchange strategies. It catalyzes the conversion of CO2 to CO under infrared light irradiation at 1200 nm and exhibits high selectivity (84.81%) and excellent stability (>50 cycles). Research has found that after intercalation of [Ru (dpds) ₃] ^4- into the interlayer of hydrotalcite, photo generated electrons transfer from the Ru complex to the LDH layer. Furthermore, through theoretical calculations, it was found that the Ru complex was compressed between the LDH layers after insertion, resulting in a double distribution of charges and narrowing of the catalyst band gap (0.89 eV), achieving infrared driven CO₂ reduction. This provides a new approach for the design and development of efficient photocatalytic systems in the near-infrared region.

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