Issue 4, 2019

Formation of lattice-dislocated bismuth nanowires on copper foam for enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction at low overpotential

Abstract

Metallic bismuth (Bi) is an electrocatalyst that promotes CO2 reduction to formate. However, a substantial overpotential is needed to achieve a high formate faradaic efficiency along with a large catalytic current density, and this hinders its practical application. In this work, a facile strategy has been developed to obtain lattice-dislocated Bi nanowires on copper foam (Cu foam@BiNW) through in situ electrochemical transformation of an electroless plated Bi film on copper foam after thermal treatment in air. The Cu foam@BiNW is found to be a highly active electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction to formate at a low overpotential, reaching a faradaic efficiency for formate (FEformate) of 95% and a formate partial current density of ∼15 mA cm−2 at −0.69 V vs. RHE. High FEformate values of above 93% were also maintained over a potential range from −0.69 V to −0.99 V vs. RHE. A Fourier transformed ac voltammetric study revealed that unlike other Bi materials, the rate determining step for CO2 reduction on the Cu foam@BiNW electrode is the reduction of protonated CO2˙ radical anion, which indicates the presence of new catalytic active sites on the BiNWs. The high CO2 reduction activity of the Cu foam@BiNW electrode is attributed to the high intrinsic activity arising from the presence of crystal lattice dislocations on the twisted Bi nanowires and the large catalytic surface area associated with the porous structure. This work demonstrates the use of crystal defect engineering to improve the efficiency of electrocatalytic CO2 reduction on Bi metal.

Graphical abstract: Formation of lattice-dislocated bismuth nanowires on copper foam for enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction at low overpotential

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Nov 2018
Accepted
01 Mar 2019
First published
01 Mar 2019

Energy Environ. Sci., 2019,12, 1334-1340

Formation of lattice-dislocated bismuth nanowires on copper foam for enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction at low overpotential

X. Zhang, X. Sun, S. Guo, A. M. Bond and J. Zhang, Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 1334 DOI: 10.1039/C9EE00018F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements