Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Tracking structural evolution: operando regenerative CeOx/Bi interface structure for high-performance CO2
Ruichao Pang1, Pengfei Tian1, Hongliang Jiang1
1Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
Abstract:
Unveiling the structural evolution and working mechanism of catalysts under realistic operating conditions is crucial for the design of efficient electrocatalysts for CO2 electroreduction, yet remains highly challenging. Here, by virtue of operando structural measurements at multiscale levels, it is identified under CO2 electroreduction conditions that an as-prepared CeO2/BiOCl precatalyst gradually evolves into CeOx/Bi interface structure with enriched Ce3+ species, which serves as the real catalytically active phase. The derived CeOx/Bi interface structure compared to pure Bi counterpart delivers substantially enhanced performance with a formate Faradaic efficiency approaching 90% for 24 hours in a wide potential window. The formate Faradaic efficiency can be further increased by using isotope D2O instead of H2O. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the regenerative CeOx/Bi interfacial sites can not only promote water activation to increase local *H species for CO2 protonation appropriately, but also stabilize the key intermediate *OCHO in formate pathway.
Related Concept Videos
Interfacial Electrochemical Methods: Overview
Thermal and Photochemical Electrocyclic Reactions: Overview
Redox Equilibria: Overview
Electrochemistry: Overview
Redox Reactions
Carbon-dioxide Fixation

