Atomically Dispersed Mn for Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction with Tunable Performance.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) offers a sustainable route to valuable chemicals.
• Efficient electrocatalysts are crucial for advancing ECR technology.
• Developing cost-effective and highly active catalysts remains a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize atomically dispersed manganese on nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Mn SAs/NC) as an electrocatalyst for ECR.
• To evaluate the activity, selectivity, and stability of the Mn SAs/NC catalyst for CO production.
• To investigate the tunability of the catalyst's properties through controlled synthesis.

Main Methods:

• Facile and scalable annealing method for synthesizing Mn SAs/NC.
• Electrochemical characterization including cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry.
• Analysis of catalytic performance for CO2 reduction to CO.

Main Results:

• The synthesized Mn SAs/NC catalyst exhibited high activity and selectivity for CO formation.
• Achieved a faradaic efficiency of 80.5±0.6% for CO production, significantly outperforming bare NC.
• Demonstrated excellent catalytic stability over 10 hours of continuous operation.
• Catalyst performance was tunable by controlling nitrogen configurations and Mn single-atom loading.

Conclusions:

• Atomically dispersed manganese on nitrogen-doped porous carbon is a highly effective electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction.
• The facile synthesis and tunable properties make Mn SAs/NC a promising candidate for industrial ECR applications.
• This work provides insights into designing efficient and cost-effective electrocatalysts for sustainable chemical synthesis.