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Updated: Jun 21, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Well-defined asymmetric nitrogen/carbon-coordinated single metal sites for carbon dioxide conversion
Senhe Huang1, Ziyu Fang1, Chenbao Lu2
1The Soft2D Lab, State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, Zhang Jiang Institute for Advanced Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 201203, China.
Abstract:
Asymmetric nitrogen/carbon-coordinated single metal sites (M-NxC4-x) outperform symmetric M-N4 sites in carbon dioxide (CO2) electroreduction. However, the challenge of crafting well-defined M-NxC4-x sites complicates the understanding of their structure-catalytic performance relationship. In this study, we employ metallized N-confused tetraphenylporphyrin (M-NCTPP) to investigate CO2 conversion on M-N3C1 sites using both density functional theory and experimental methods. The optimal cobalt (Co)-N3C1 site (Co-NCTPP) achieves a current density of 500 mA cm-2 and a carbon monoxide Faraday efficiency exceeding 90 % at -1.25 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode, surpassing the performance of Co-N4 (Co-TPP). This research introduces a novel approach for designing and synthesizing high-activity heteroatom-anchored single metal sites, advancing fundamental understanding in the field.
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