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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Breaking Scaling Relations for Highly Efficient Electroreduction of CO2 to CO on Atomically Dispersed Heteronuclear
Song Lu1, Michal Mazur2, Kun Guo3
1Department of Energy and Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, 4036, Norway.
Abstract:
Conversion of CO2 into value-added products by electrocatalysis provides a promising way to mitigate energy and environmental problems. However, it is greatly limited by the scaling relationship between the adsorption strength of intermediates. Herein, Mn and Ni single-atom catalysts, homonuclear dual-atom catalysts (DACs), and heteronuclear DACs are synthesized. Aberration-corrected annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy characterization uncovered the existence of the Mn─Ni pair in Mn─Ni DAC. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy reveal that Mn donated electrons to Ni atoms in Mn─Ni DAC. Consequently, Mn─Ni DAC displays the highest CO Faradaic efficiency of 98.7% at -0.7 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs RHE) with CO partial current density of 16.8 mA cm-2. Density functional theory calculations disclose that the scaling relationship between the binding strength of intermediates is broken, resulting in superior performance for ECR to CO over Mn─Ni─NC catalyst.
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