Nano-folded Gold Catalysts for Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide

The local structure and geometry of catalytic interfaces can influence the selectivity of chemical reactions. Selectivity is often critical for the practical realization of reactions such as the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Previously developed strategies to manipulate the structure and geometry of catalysts for electroreduction of CO₂ involve complex processes or fail to efficiently alter the selectivity. Here, using a prestrained polymer, we uniaxially and biaxially compress a 60 nm gold film to form a nano-folded electrocatalyst for CO₂ reduction. We observe two kinds of folds and can tune the ratio of loose to tight folds by varying the extent of prestrain in the polymer. We characterize the nano-folded catalysts using X-ray diffraction, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. We observe grain reorientation and coarsening in the nano-folded gold catalysts. We measure an enhancement of Faradaic efficiency for carbon monoxide formation with the biaxially compressed nano-folded catalyst by a factor of about nine as compared to the flat catalyst (up to 87.4%). We rationalize this observation by noting that an increase of the local pH in the tight folds of the catalyst outweighs the effects of alterations in grain characteristics. Together, our studies demonstrate that nano-folded geometries can significantly alter grain characteristics, mass transport, and catalytic performance.