Facet-Mediated Interfacial Zn-Ov-Ce Sites for Enhanced CO2 Electroreduction
Yuxin Bao1, Yang Chen1,2, Fei Zhao1
1Institute of Clean Energy Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036, China.
Abstract:
High-dispersion Zn-based catalysts are promising candidates to replace noble-metal catalysts for the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). However, it is still challenging to identify and stabilize active Zn species to achieve high activity and selectivity. Herein, the Zn species are anchored on different crystal facets of CeO2, and the interaction between Zn atoms and specific facets of CeO2 for the CO2RR is investigated. The Zn/CeO2(110) catalyst, with CeO2 nanorods exposing the (110) facet, exhibits a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 75.6% for CO production at -1.4 V vs RHE, which is 1.3 and 1.6 times higher than that of Zn/CeO2(100) and Zn/CeO2(111), respectively. The CO partial current density of Zn/CeO2(110) achieves 3.89 mA·cm-2 at -1.4 V vs RHE, superior to the other counterparts. Detailed characterizations reveal that the strong interactions between the CeO2(110) facet and Zn atoms induce the generation of more oxygen vacancies. The asymmetric Zn-Ov-Ce sites facilitate the stabilization of Zn species with a small particle size. Moreover, the interfacial Zn-Ov-Ce sites and oxygen vacancies significantly promote CO2 activation, thereby favoring subsequent *COOH formation and CO production. This study opens a new avenue to design efficient metal oxide catalysts by engineering specific facets and interfacial active sites.
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