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Electrochemically derived nanoporous Bi from plasma-structured BiOCl for high-efficiency CO2 electroreduction.
Yaxin Xu1, Zhongshuang Xu1, Huanran Miao1
1MOE Key Laboratory for Non-Equilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Mesoscopic Physics of Shaanxi Province, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China. kongcc@xjtu.edu.cn.
We developed a new plasma-electrochemical method to create nanoporous bismuth (Bi) catalysts for efficient carbon dioxide (CO2) conversion into formate. This advanced catalyst shows high selectivity and stability for sustainable CO2 reduction.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Controlled phase evolution in catalytic architecture is crucial for selective CO2-to-formate conversion using non-precious metals.
- Developing efficient and stable catalysts for CO2 reduction remains a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a sequential plasma-electrochemical strategy for converting BiOCl precursors into nanoporous Bi networks.
- To achieve high selectivity and stability in CO2-to-formate conversion using non-precious metal catalysts.
Main Methods:
- Sequential plasma-electrochemical strategy.
- Plasma treatment of BiCl3-C to yield metastable BiOCl with atomic disorder and mesopores.
- Electrochemical activation to reconstruct BiOCl into interconnected Bi nanoporous structures.
Main Results:
- The catalyst achieved 93.4% formate faradaic efficiency at 300 mA cm-2.
- Maintained >90% selectivity over a wide current density range (100-500 mA cm-2).
- Exhibited excellent stability with only 4.7% FE loss over 40 hours, outperforming thermal Bi catalysts.
Conclusions:
- The plasma-induced lattice distortions facilitate catalyst reconstruction, leading to enhanced electric field effects.
- The nanoporous Bi structure promotes formate production while suppressing the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).
- This work offers a new paradigm for designing metastable electrocatalysts for scalable CO2 conversion.
