报告题目：From Solar Cells to Solar Chemicals: CIGS-Based Catalytic Junctions for Methane Activation

主讲嘉宾：Andrei Y. Khodakov 

邀请人：董春阳 副教授

时间：2026年04月17日 13:30

地点：低碳学院一楼103会议室

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From Solar Cells to Solar Chemicals: CIGS-Based Catalytic Junctions for Methane Activation

Andrei Y. Khodakov

Unité of Catalysis and Chemisitry of Solids, National Center for Scientific Research, F-59000 Lille, France

e-mail: andrei.khodakov@cnrs.fr

Methane activation is a major challenge in the modern chemical industry. Photocatalytic methane upgrading at normal conditions could be a promising alternative. However, widespread use of photocatalytic methane conversion has been hindered by low quantum efficiency, fast charge recombination, and challenges in scaling powder photocatalysts into durable devices. At the same time, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have matured for electricity generation but still face issues related to expensive energy storage and limited use in direct solar-to-chemical conversion. These factors lead to the exploration of hybrid photovoltaic–photocatalysis (PV–PC) strategies. In these systems, a PV junction serves as an efficient photon-to-charge generator, while a catalytic interface converts the extracted electrons and holes into chemical products. 

Conventional Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin films, often used as photovoltaic absorbers, can be redesigned as monolithic carriers for cocatalysts active in selective methane conversion under ambient conditions. It generates and separates electron-hole pairs, delivering them to surface co-catalysts where the crucial bond activation and selective chemistry take place. Building on this idea, we use a solar-cell-inspired junction design to improve charge separation and catalytic performance in methane dry reforming and methane coupling. Transforming thin-film PV architectures into catalytic junctions addresses two long-standing challenges in solar methane upgrading: efficiency (via engineered light harvesting and charge separation) and scalability (via industrial thin-film manufacturing routes for CIGS/CdS and CIGS/Au-TiO₂stacks). This work establishes a design paradigm in which photovoltaic absorbers operate as active light harvesters and charge suppliers for catalytic chemistry, offering a practical route to deployable solar-driven hardware for methane upgrading and, more broadly, for key solar-to-fuel reactions.

Andrei Y. Khodakov 

Andrei Khodakov defended his PhD in 1991 on alkane activation over zeolites, and later obtained his Habilitation (Doctor of Sciences) in 2002. From 1992 to 1999, he built broad international experience through research appointments in academia and industry in France, the UK, and the USA, including IFPEN, UMIST, the University of Edinburgh, the University of California, Berkeley, and the SABIC Technology Center in Houston.

In October 1999, Dr. Khodakov joined the Laboratory of Catalysis in Lille (now Unit of Catalysis and Chemistry of Solids, UMR 8181 CNRS), where he developed a research program in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Currently, Andrei Khodakov is a Senior Research Director of CNRS. He coordinates several research projects, serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Materials Today Catalysis and sits on the editorial boards of several journals. His research aims to design and optimize catalysts and catalytic reactors while elucidating reaction mechanisms and kinetics, bridging fundamental science and industrial relevance. His group’s activities span platform-molecule synthesis; syngas and methane valorization; conversion of renewable feedstocks, including biomass and CO₂ via thermochemical and photocatalytic routes; in situ/operando catalyst characterization; and the development of advanced catalyst preparation methods.