Coupling Ni-Cu atomic pair to promote CO₂ electroreduction with near-unity CO selectivity

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Catalysis

Background:

• Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO is crucial for mitigating atmospheric CO2 levels.
• Developing efficient, selective, and stable catalysts is essential for this process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and evaluate a novel porous NiCu-embedded ZIF-derived N-doped carbon nanoparticle (NiCu@NCNPs) catalyst.
• To investigate its performance in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of NiCu@NCNPs catalyst.
• Electrochemical characterization of CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR).
• Kinetic analysis and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations.

Main Results:

• Achieved 100% CO selectivity, the highest reported to date.
• Demonstrated high particle current density (15 mA cm-2) at -0.9 V vs. RHE.
• Exhibited excellent stability over five sequential CO2 electroreduction experiments.

Conclusions:

• NiCu@NCNPs is an active, selective, stable, and cost-effective catalyst for CO2 reduction.
• High performance is attributed to high electrochemical surface area and low electron transfer resistance.
• DFT calculations indicate the *COOH intermediate formation is rate-determining, with low Gibbs free energy.