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Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Molecular Nickel Thiolate Complexes for Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to C1-3 Hydrocarbons
Jiehao Du1, Banggui Cheng1, Huiqing Yuan1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, 510275, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
We report the unprecedented electrocatalytic activity of a series of molecular nickel thiolate complexes (1-5) in reducing CO2 to C1-3 hydrocarbons on carbon paper in pH-neutral aqueous solutions. Ni(mpo)2 (3, mpo=2-mercaptopyridyl-N-oxide), Ni(pyS)3 - (4, pyS=2-mercaptopyridine), and Ni(mp)2 - (5, mp=2-mercaptophenolate) were found to generate C3 products from CO2 for the first time in molecular complex. Compound 5 exhibits Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) of 10.6 %, 7.2 %, 8.2 % for C1 , C2 , C3 hydrocarbons respectively at -1.0 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Addition of CO to the system significantly promotes the FEC1-C3 to 41.1 %, suggesting that a key Ni-CO intermediate is associated with catalysis. A variety of spectroscopies have been performed to show that the structures of nickel complexes remain intact during CO2 reduction.
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