Atomically Dispersed Nickel(I) on an Alloy‐Encapsulated Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanotube Array for High‐Performance Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction Reaction

By Tianyu Zhang, Xuzhao Han, Hongbin Yang, Aijuan Han, E. Hu, Yaping Li, Xiao‐Qing Yang, Lei Wang, Junfeng Liu, Bin Liu. Angewandte Chemie, 2020

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Single-atom catalysts (SACs) show great promise for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CRR), but the low density of active sites and the poor electrical conduction and mass transport of the single-atom electrode greatly limit their performance. Herein, we prepared a nickel single-atom electrode consisting of isolated, high-density and low-valent nickel(I) sites anchored on a self-standing N-doped carbon nanotube array with nickel-copper alloy encapsulation on a carbon-fiber paper. The combination of single-atom nickel(I) sites and self-standing array structure gives rise to an excellent electrocatalytic CO2 reduction performance. The introduction of copper tunes the d-band electron configuration and enhances the adsorption of hydrogen, which impedes the hydrogen evolution reaction. The single-nickel-atom electrode exhibits a specific current density of -32.87 mA cm-2 and turnover frequency of 1962 h-1 at a mild overpotential of 620 mV for CO formation with 97 % Faradic efficiency.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8314fa3c84c00614b072d4fd4c3110e5bccd4cdb