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Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
A phosphate-derived bismuth catalyst with abundant grain boundaries for efficient reduction of CO2 to HCOOH
Yulin Xing1, Huihuang Chen1, Yan Liu1
1Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Chemistry and Energy Catalysis of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China. gengzg@ustc.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Electroreduction of CO2 to HCOOH with high current densities and efficiencies remains a challenge. Herein, we developed a metallic Bi catalyst with abundant grain boundaries through the electrochemical transformation of BiPO4 nanorods to boost the catalytic performance of the electroreduction of CO2 to HCOOH. The phosphate-derived Bi catalyst (PD-Bi) achieved an FE of 91.9% for HCOOH at a high current density of -600.0 mA cm-2. Mechanistic study revealed that the abundant grain boundaries within PD-Bi promoted the adsorption of CO2 and stabilization of the CO2˙- intermediate, resulting in facilitated CO2 activation and thus enhanced catalytic performance.
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