Defective graphene for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction

The rational synthesis of earth-abundant materials with excellent electrocatalytic performances plays a critical role in electrochemical CO₂ reduction (ECR) to obtain value-added chemical products or fuels. Here we demonstrate a defective graphene (DG) as such an electrocatalyst candidate via a nitrogen removal method. The graphene with a large amount of topological defects offered abundant catalytically active sites, high electronic conductivity and strong adsorption of CO₂. Attributed to these features, the DG exhibited significantly higher electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction performances with an excellent faradaic efficiency of ∼84% at -0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode and a larger current density, compared to pristine graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene and edge-rich graphene. This work suggests a promising method for further designing efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction.