Metal‐Free Fluorine‐Doped Carbon Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction Outcompeting Hydrogen Evolution |
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| Authors: | Dr Jiafang Xie Xiaotao Zhao Prof Maoxiang Wu Prof Qiaohong Li Prof Yaobing Wang Prof Jiannian Yao |
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| Affiliation: | 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials, State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou, P. R. China;2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China |
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| Abstract: | The electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECDRR), as a key reaction in artificial photosynthesis to implement renewable energy conversion/storage, has been inhibited by the low efficiency and high costs of the electrocatalysts. Herein, we synthesize a fluorine‐doped carbon (FC) catalyst by pyrolyzing commercial BP 2000 with a fluorine source, enabling a highly selective CO2‐to‐CO conversion with a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 90 % at a low overpotential of 510 mV and a small Tafel slope of 81 mV dec?1, outcompeting current metal‐free catalysts. Moreover, the higher partial current density of CO and lower partial current density of H2 on FC relative to pristine carbon suggest an enhanced inherent activity towards ECDRR as well as a suppressed hydrogen evolution by fluorine doping. Fluorine doping activates the neighbor carbon atoms and facilitates the stabilization of the key intermediate COOH* on the fluorine‐doped carbon material, which are also blocked for competing hydrogen evolution, resulting in superior CO2‐to‐CO conversion. |
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| Keywords: | CO2 reduction density functional calculations energy conversion fluorine nanocatalysis |
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