Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 19, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Highly Selective Tandem Electroreduction of CO2 to Ethylene over Atomically Isolated Nickel-Nitrogen Site/Copper
Dong-Li Meng1,2,3, Meng-Di Zhang1, Duan-Hui Si1
1State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
Abstract:
Herein, an effective tandem catalysis strategy is developed to improve the selectivity of the CO2 RR towards C2 H4 by multiple distinct catalytic sites in local vicinity. An earth-abundant elements-based tandem electrocatalyst PTF(Ni)/Cu is constructed by uniformly dispersing Cu nanoparticles (NPs) on the porphyrinic triazine framework anchored with atomically isolated nickel-nitrogen sites (PTF(Ni)) for the enhanced CO2 RR to produce C2 H4 . The Faradaic efficiency of C2 H4 reaches 57.3 % at -1.1 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which is about 6 times higher than the non-tandem catalyst PTF/Cu, which produces CH4 as the major carbon product. The operando infrared spectroscopy and theoretic density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the local high concentration of CO generated by PTF(Ni) sites can facilitate the C-C coupling to form C2 H4 on the nearby Cu NP sites. The work offers an effective avenue to design electrocatalysts for the highly selective CO2 RR to produce multicarbon products via a tandem route.
More Related Videos
08:13Chemical Precipitation Method for the Synthesis of Nb2O5 Modified Bulk Nickel Catalysts with High Specific Surface Area
Published on: February 19, 2018
08:40Synthesis of Metal Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotube with Doped Co and N Atoms and its Catalytic Applications in Hydrogen Production
Published on: December 6, 2021
Related Concept Videos
Reduction of Alkenes: Asymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation
The metal catalyst used can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. When hydrogenation of an alkene generates a chiral center, a pair of enantiomeric products is expected to form. However, an enantiomeric excess of one of the products can be facilitated using an enantioselective reaction or an...
Catalysis
Reduction of Alkynes to cis-Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Like alkenes, alkynes can be reduced to alkanes in the presence of transition metal catalysts such as Pt, Pd, or Ni. The reaction involves two sequential syn additions of hydrogen via a cis-alkene intermediate.
Reduction of Alkenes: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Metals like palladium, platinum, and nickel are commonly used in their solid forms — fine powder on an inert surface. As these catalysts remain insoluble in the reaction mixture, they are referred to as heterogeneous catalysts.
The hydrogenation process takes place on the...
Reduction of Benzene to Cyclohexane: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Alcohols from Carbonyl Compounds: Reduction
Catalytic hydrogenation is similar to the reduction of an alkene or alkyne by adding H2 across the pi bond in the presence of transition metal catalysts like Raney Ni, Pd–C, Pt, or Ru. Aldehydes and ketones can be reduced by this method, often under mild to moderate heat (25–100°C) and...