Thiol-Assisted Synthesis of Carbon-Supported Metal Nanoparticles for Efficient Electrocatalytic CO₂ Reduction

The typical preparation route of carbon-supported metallic catalyst is complex and uneconomical. Herein, we reported a thiol-assisted one-pot method by using 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) to synthesize carbon-supported metal nanoparticles catalysts for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂ RR). We found that the synthesized Au-MPA/C catalyst achieves a maximum CO faradaic efficiency (FE) of 96.2% with its partial current density of -11.4 mA/cm² , which is much higher than that over Au foil or MPA-free carbon-supported Au (Au/C). The performance improvement in CO₂ RR over the catalyst is probably derived from the good dispersion of Au nanoparticles and the surface modification of the catalyst caused by the specific interaction between Au nanoparticles and MPA. This thiol-assisted method can be also extended to synthesize Ag-MPA/C with enhanced CO₂ RR performance.