biostudies-literatureWang SNatural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation)National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China)5305https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9463155biostudies-literatureUnknown13(1)Treating hazardous waste Ni from the electroplating industry is mandated world-wide, is exceptionally expensive, and carries a very high CO₂ footprint. Rather than regarding Ni as a disposable waste, the chemicals and petrochemicals industries could instead consider it a huge resource. In the work described herein, we present a strategy for upcycling waste Ni from electroplating wastewater into a photothermal catalyst for converting CO₂ to CO. Specifically, magnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in amine functionalized porous SiO₂, is demonstrated to efficiently scavenge Ni from electroplating wastewater for utilization in photothermal CO₂ catalysis. The core-shell catalyst architecture produces CO at a rate of 1.9 mol·g_Ni^-1·h<Nature communicationsGrave-to-cradle upcycling of Ni from electroplating wastewater to photothermal CO₂ catalysis.PMC94631555217222161721005BK202001015190228751920105005Zhang DHe JHe LSun WYang DWu ZDu BLi ZFeng KWang SWang WZhong JOzin GAfalseGrave-to-cradle upcycling of Ni from electroplating wastewater to photothermal CO₂ catalysis.Treating hazardous waste Ni from the electroplating industry is mandated world-wide, is exceptionally expensive, and carries a very high CO₂ footprint. Rather than regarding Ni as a disposable waste, the chemicals and petrochemicals industries could instead consider it a huge resource. In the work described herein, we present a strategy for upcycling waste Ni from electroplating wastewater into a photothermal catalyst for converting CO₂ to CO. Specifically, magnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in amine functionalized porous SiO₂, is demonstrated to efficiently scavenge Ni from electroplating wastewater for utilization in photothermal CO₂ catalysis. The core-shell catalyst architecture produces CO at a rate of 1.9 mol·g_Ni^-1·h<2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Sep2026-03-31T11:26:03.185Z2025-04-21T14:21:58.582ZS-EPMC94631553608530510.1038/s41467-022-33029-x