Hydrocarbon fuels can be synthesized from CO and water via Kölbel–Engelhardt synthesis, a thermocatalytic process in which temperatures of ≥200 °C and elevated pressures are typically needed. While light-driven hydrocarbon production by CO hydrogenation has been demonstrated under milder conditions, for this reaction H₂ must first be sourced. Here we report the direct production of hydrocarbons from CO and water at atmospheric pressure via light-driven Kölbel–Engelhardt synthesis without external heating or the addition of H₂. Using a TiO₂-supported Ni catalyst, we obtain an activity of 8.83 mol_−CH2− mol_Ni⁻¹ h⁻¹ and C₂₊ selectivity higher than 55%. In situ spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations suggest that the migration of photogenerated electrons from TiO₂ to Ni facilitates carbon–carbon coupling at the interface of the TiO_2−x/Ni catalyst, which accounts for the observed high selectivity towards multi-carbon products.

碳氢化合物燃料可以通过柯尔贝尔-恩格尔哈特合成法由二氧化碳和水合成，这是一种热催化过程，通常需要 ≥200 °C 的温度和高压。虽然已经在较温和的条件下证明了通过CO加氢进行光驱动碳氢化合物生产，但对于该反应，必须首先获取H _{2 。}在这里，我们报告了在大气压下通过光驱动的 Kölbel-Engelhardt 合成直接从 CO 和水生产碳氢化合物，无需外部加热或添加 H ₂。使用TiO _{2负载的Ni催化剂，我们获得了8.83 mol − CH2 −}  mol _Ni ^-1  h ^-1的活性和高于55%的C _{2+选择性。}原位光谱和密度泛函理论计算表明，光生电子从 TiO _{2迁移到 Ni 促进了 TiO 2 − x} /Ni 催化剂界面处的碳-碳偶联，这解释了观察到的对多碳产物的高选择性。