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Updated: Aug 13, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Synergy effects on Sn-Cu alloy catalyst for efficient CO2 electroreduction to formate with high mass activity
Ke Ye1, Ang Cao2, Jiaqi Shao1
1State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China; Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China.
Abstract:
To acquire the synergy effects between Sn and Cu for the jointly high Faradaic efficiency and current density, we develop a novel strategy to design the Sn-Cu alloy catalyst via a decorated co-electrodeposition method for CO2 electroreduction to formate. The Sn-Cu alloy shows high formate Faradaic efficiency of 82.3% ± 2.1% and total C1 products Faradaic efficiency of 90.0% ± 2.7% at -1.14 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The current density and mass activity of formate reach as high as (79.0 ± 0.4) mA cm-2 and (1490.6 ± 7.5) mA mg-1 at -1.14 V vs. RHE. Theoretical calculations suggest that Sn-Cu alloy can obtain high Faradaic efficiency for CO2 electroreduction by suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction and that the formate formation follows the path of CO2 → HCOO* → HCOOH. The stepped (2 1 1) surface of Sn-Cu alloy is beneficial towards selective formate production.
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