Issue 8, 2023

Cu–Ni alloy decorating N-doped carbon nanosheets toward high-performance electrocatalysis of mildly acidic CO2 reduction

Abstract

Electrochemical CO2 reduction to value-added chemicals or fuels is a prospective strategy for facilitating the closing of the carbon loop. However, there still exist challenges in developing efficient catalysts and optimizing the electrolyzer components to meet industrial applications. Herein, nitrogen-doped “willow leaf” shaped carbon nanosheets modified with Cu–Ni alloy (CuNi-N-CNS) is designed for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), which shows high faradaic efficiency for CO of over 90% at a wide potential window ranging from −0.8 V to −1.0 V and robust durability with almost 100% of its initial selectivity after 36 h of electrolysis in H-type cell. Moreover, we evaluate its electrocatalytic activity in a self-assembly flow cell in a mildly acidic catholyte (CO2-saturated 3 M KCl solution, pH = 4.25), which can achieve a commercially viable current density of 420 mA cm−2 at −1.0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE) with CO selectivity above 95%. Experimental characterization and electrochemical analysis reveal that the synergistic effects of ultra-thin “willow leaf” structure and bimetallic alloy modification can not only increase electron transport efficiency but also decrease the reaction energy barrier of COOH* and promote the formation of CO.

Graphical abstract: Cu–Ni alloy decorating N-doped carbon nanosheets toward high-performance electrocatalysis of mildly acidic CO2 reduction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
01 Feb 2023
Accepted
06 Mar 2023
First published
07 Mar 2023

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2023,10, 2276-2284

Author version available

Cu–Ni alloy decorating N-doped carbon nanosheets toward high-performance electrocatalysis of mildly acidic CO2 reduction

W. Pan, P. Wang, L. Fan, K. Chen, L. Yi, J. Huang, P. Cai, X. Liu, Q. Chen, G. Wang and Z. Wen, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2023, 10, 2276 DOI: 10.1039/D3QI00207A

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