Promoting CO₂ electroreduction to CO by a graphdiyne-stabilized Au nanoparticle catalyst

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) gives an ideal approach for producing valuable chemicals, offering dual benefits in terms of environmental preservation and carbon recycling. In this work, a strong synergistic effect is constructed by adopting electron-rich graphdiyne (GDY) as the supporting matrix, which significantly stabilizes the Au active sites and boosts the CO₂RR process. The as-prepared GDY-supported Au nanoparticles (Au/GDY) exhibit excellent CO₂RR performance, with an extremely high faradaic efficiency of 94.6% for CO as well as good stability with continuous electrolysis for 36 hours. The superior activity and stability of the Au/GDY catalyst can be attributed to the electronic interaction between Au nanoparticles and the GDY substrate, resulting in enhanced electron transfer rates and a stable network of catalytically active sites that ultimately promote the CO₂RR.