Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Syngas with Controllable CO/H2 Ratios over Co and Ni Single‐Atom Catalysts

The electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to yield synthesis gas (syngas, CO and H₂) has been considered as a promising method to realize the net reduction in CO₂ emission. However, it is challenging to balance the CO₂RR activity and the CO/H₂ ratio. To address this issue, nitrogen‐doped carbon supported single‐atom catalysts are designed as electrocatalysts to produce syngas from CO₂RR. While Co and Ni single‐atom catalysts are selective in producing H₂ and CO, respectively, electrocatalysts containing both Co and Ni show a high syngas evolution (total current >74 mA cm^?2) with CO/H₂ ratios (0.23–2.26) that are suitable for typical downstream thermochemical reactions. Density functional theory calculations provide insights into the key intermediates on Co and Ni single‐atom configurations for the H₂ and CO evolution. The results present a useful case on how non‐precious transition metal species can maintain high CO₂RR activity with tunable CO/H₂ ratios.     

Controllable Conversion of CO2 on Non-Metallic Gold Clusters

Gold nanoparticles in metallic or plasmonic state have been widely used to catalyze homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions. However, the catalytic behavior of gold catalysts in non-metallic or excitonic state remain elusive. Atomically precise Au_n clusters (n=number of gold atoms) bridge the gap between non-metallic and metallic catalysts and offer new opportunities for unveiling the hidden properties of gold catalysts in the metallic, transition regime, and non-metallic states. Here, we report the controllable conversion of CO₂ over three non-metallic Au_n clusters, including Au₉, Au₁₁, and Au₃₆, towards different target products: methane produced on Au₉, ethanol on Au₁₁, and formic acid on Au₃₆. Structural information encoded in the non-metallic clusters permits a precise correlation of atomic structure with catalytic properties and hence, provides molecular-level insight into distinct reaction channels of CO₂ hydrogenation over the three non-metallic Au catalysts.     

Regulating the Coordination Environment of MOF-Templated Single-Atom Nickel Electrocatalysts for Boosting CO2 Reduction

The general synthesis and control of the coordination environment of single-atom catalysts (SACs) remains a great challenge. Herein, a general host–guest cooperative protection strategy has been developed to construct SACs by introducing polypyrrole (PPy) into a bimetallic metal–organic framework. As an example, the introduction of Mg²⁺ in MgNi-MOF-74 extends the distance between adjacent Ni atoms; the PPy guests serve as N source to stabilize the isolated Ni atoms during pyrolysis. As a result, a series of single-atom Ni catalysts (named Ni_SA-N_x-C) with different N coordination numbers have been fabricated by controlling the pyrolysis temperature. Significantly, the Ni_SA-N₂-C catalyst, with the lowest N coordination number, achieves high CO Faradaic efficiency (98 %) and turnover frequency (1622 h⁻¹), far superior to those of Ni_SA-N₃-C and Ni_SA-N₄-C, in electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Theoretical calculations reveal that the low N coordination number of single-atom Ni sites in Ni_SA-N₂-C is favorable to the formation of COOH* intermediate and thus accounts for its superior activity.     

载体对镍基催化剂CH4／CO2重整制合成气性能的影响

在Ｎｉ／ＭｇＯ、Ｎｉ／ＣａＯ和Ｎｉ／ＣｅＯ催化剂上,ＣＨ４／ＣＯ２重整制事成的活性测试表明ＭｇＯ是一种较好的载体,ＴＰＲ实验显示,Ｎｉ－ＭｇＯ之间的相互作用比Ｎｉ－ＣａＯ和Ｎｉ－ＣｅＯ２强,现场ＣＯ岐化和ＣＨ４解离实验表明, 经剂表面吸附的氢会促进ＣＯ歧化和ＣＨ４解离积炭。     

复合催化剂上CO2加氢合成C2+烃类

介绍了由CO2＋H2合成C2^ 烃的几种复合催化剂体系的研究进展，比较和评价了复合催化剂体系的活性和选择性及对C2^ 烃类生成的影响。着重于复合催化剂体系对C4^ 烃的生成及产物分布的影响并简述反应机理。     

Efficient Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to HCOOH over Sub‐2 nm SnO2 Quantum Wires with Exposed Grain Boundaries

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ could mitigate environmental problems originating from CO₂ emission. Although grain boundaries (GBs) have been tailored to tune binding energies of reaction intermediates and consequently accelerate the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), it is challenging to exclusively clarify the correlation between GBs and enhanced reactivity in nanostructured materials with small dimension (<10 nm). Now, sub‐2 nm SnO₂ quantum wires (QWs) composed of individual quantum dots (QDs) and numerous GBs on the surface were synthesized and examined for CO₂RR toward HCOOH formation. In contrast to SnO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) with a larger electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), the ultrathin SnO₂ QWs with exposed GBs show enhanced current density (j), an improved Faradaic efficiency (FE) of over 80 % for HCOOH and ca. 90 % for C1 products as well as energy efficiency (EE) of over 50 % in a wide potential window; maximum values of FE (87.3 %) and EE (52.7 %) are achieved.     

Ni/Al2O3催化剂上甲烷部分氧化制合成气反应CO2主要来源

负载型金属催化上甲烷催化部分氧化剂合成反应机理存在着燃烧－重整机理和直接氧化之争,如果反应按燃烧－重整机理进行,则ＣＯ２则是反应的一次产物而ＣＯ２是二次产物;如果反应按直接氧化机理进行,则ＣＯ是一次产物。本文采用同位素瞬变技术,对Ｎｉ／Ａｌ２Ｏ３催化上甲烷部分氧化制合成气反应中ＣＯ２的来源进行了研究,结果表明ＣＯ２同ＣＯ－样,主要来源于催化剂表面ＮｉＯ与甲烷分解生成的ＮｉｘＣ的反应,这就有力地证明     

H2-induced CO adsorption and dissociation over Co/Al2O3 catalyst

The activation of adsorbed CO is an important step in CO hydrogenation. The results from TPSR of pre-adsorbed CO with H2 and syngas suggested that the presence of H2 increased the amount of CO adsorption and accelerated CO dissocia-tion. The H2 was adsorbed first, and activated to form H* over metal sites, then reacted with carbonaceous species. The oxygen species for CO2 formation in the presence of hydrogen was mostly OH*, which reacted with adsorbed CO subsequently via CO*+OH* → CO2*+H*; however, the direct CO dissociation was not excluded in CO hydrogenation. The dissociation of C-O bond in the presence of H2 proceeded by a concerted mechanism, which assisted the Boudourd reaction of adsorbed CO onthe surface via CO*+2H* → CH*+OH*. The formation of the surface species (CH) from adsorbed CO proceeded as indicated with the participation of surface hydrogen, was favored in the initial step of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.     

Controllable Hydrocarbon Formation from the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 over Cu Nanowire Arrays

In this work, the effect of Cu nanowire morphology on the selective electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ is presented. Cu nanowire arrays were prepared through a two‐step synthesis of Cu(OH)₂ and CuO nanowire arrays on Cu foil substrates and a subsequent electrochemical reduction of the CuO nanowire arrays to Cu nanowire arrays. By this simple synthesis method, Cu nanowire array electrodes with different length and density were able to be controllably synthesized. We show that the selectivity for hydrocarbons (ethylene, n‐propanol, ethane, and ethanol) on Cu nanowire array electrodes at a fixed potential can be tuned by systematically altering the Cu nanowire length and density. The nanowire morphology effect is linked to the increased local pH in the Cu nanowire arrays and a reaction scheme detailing the local pH‐induced formation of C₂ products is also presented by a preferred CO dimerization pathway.     

甲烷二氧化碳重整制合成气镍-钴双金属催化剂

积炭;甲烷二氧化碳重整制合成气镍-钴双金属催化剂     

单原子催化剂在CO2转化中的应用

单原子催化剂(SAC)是由互相隔离分散的原子级活性位点锚定在基底上而形成的一类新兴催化剂材料, 其具有最大化的原子利用率、 可调控的独特电子结构, 因而在热催化、 光催化及电催化等方面展现出良好的应用前景. 通过SAC的热/光/电催化CO₂转化反应(CCR)能将温室气体CO₂转化为燃料或具有附加值的化学品, 为解决严重的全球变暖和能源短缺问题提供了一种有效策略. 本文总结了近年来SAC在CO₂转化领域的研究进展, 讨论了其合成、 调控及催化各类CO₂转化反应的优缺点, 并对其未来的发展进行了展望.     

H2,CO和H2/CO在ZrO2催化剂上吸附行为研究

用insituFTIR法研究了H₂、CO及CO/H₂在ZrO₂表面的吸附行为.结果表明,H₂在ZrO₂表面吸附存在两种形态的羟基(即ZrOH和ZrOHZr),吸附温度增加,羟基数量增加.CO在200℃易与ZrO₂表面羟基作用形成甲酸盐物种,吸附温度升高时,该物种逐渐分解生成CO和ZrOH.当CO和H₂共存时,表面甲酸盐的量明显增加,并随温度增加,逐渐加氢形成甲氧基,最后生成甲烷.甲氧基的加氢过程较慢,所需反应温度也较高,被认为是CO加氢合成醇的速控步骤.     

Electronic Perturbation of Copper Single-Atom CO2 Reduction Catalysts in a Molecular Way

Fine-tuning electronic structures of single-atom catalysts (SACs) plays a crucial role in harnessing their catalytic activities, yet challenges remain at a molecular scale in a controlled fashion. By tailoring the structure of graphdiyne (GDY) with electron-withdrawing/-donating groups, we show herein the electronic perturbation of Cu single-atom CO₂ reduction catalysts in a molecular way. The elaborately introduced functional groups (−F, −H and −OMe) can regulate the valance state of Cu^δ+, which is found to be directly scaled with the selectivity of the electrochemical CO₂-to-CH₄ conversion. An optimum CH₄ Faradaic efficiency of 72.3 % was achieved over the Cu SAC on the F-substituted GDY. In situ spectroscopic studies and theoretical calculations revealed that the positive Cu^δ+ centers adjusted by the electron-withdrawing group decrease the pK_a of adsorbed H₂O, promoting the hydrogenation of intermediates toward the CH₄ production. Our strategy paves the way for precise electronic perturbation of SACs toward efficient electrocatalysis.     

Halogen-Incorporated Sn Catalysts for Selective Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to Formate

Electrochemically reducing CO₂ to valuable fuels or feedstocks is recognized as a promising strategy to simultaneously tackle the crises of fossil fuel shortage and carbon emission. Sn-based catalysts have been widely studied for electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to make formic acid/formate, which unfortunately still suffer from low activity, selectivity and stability. In this work, halogen (F, Cl, Br or I) was introduced into the Sn catalyst by a facile hydrolysis method. The presence of halogen was confirmed by a collection of ex situ and in situ characterizations, which rendered a more positive valence state of Sn in halogen-incorporated Sn catalyst as compared to unmodified Sn under cathodic potentials in CO₂RR and therefore tuned the adsorption strength of the key intermediate (*OCHO) toward formate formation. As a result, the halogen-incorporated Sn catalyst exhibited greatly enhanced catalytic performance in electrochemical CO₂RR to produce formate.     

A Dinuclear Cobalt Cryptate as a Homogeneous Photocatalyst for Highly Selective and Efficient Visible‐Light Driven CO2 Reduction to CO in CH3CN/H2O Solution

A dinuclear cobalt complex [Co₂(OH)L¹](ClO₄)₃ ( 1 , L¹=N[(CH₂)₂NHCH₂(m ‐C₆H₄)CH₂NH(CH₂)₂]₃N) displays high selectivity and efficiency for the photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to CO in CH₃CN/H₂O (v/v=4:1) under a 450 nm LED light irradiation, with a light intensity of 100 mW cm⁻². The selectivity reaches as high as 98 %, and the turnover numbers (TON) and turnover frequencies (TOF) reach as high as 16896 and 0.47 s⁻¹, respectively, with the calculated quantum yield of 0.04 %. Such high activity can be attributed to the synergistic catalysis effect between two Co^II ions within 1 , which is strongly supported by the results of control experiments and DFT calculations.     

Preparation and Characterization of SiO2/Co and C/Co Nanocomposites as Fisher-Tropsch Catalysts for CO2 Hydrogenation

To fabricate high-density cobalt-based catalysts, we first synthesized SiO₂/C composites via a hydrothermal method and removed C and SiO₂ by two different methods, respectively. The as-prepared SiO₂ and C supports then reacted with cobalt acetylacetonate and N,N-dimethylformamide(DMF) under hydrothermal conditions to prepare SiO₂/Co and C/Co nanocomposite catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP), energy dispersive X-ray fluoresence spectrometer(EDX), and nitrogen adsorption. It was found that hexagonal cobalt nanocrystals were successfully integrated with the mesoporous silica or carbon nanotube supports. SEM and TEM results show that SiO₂/Co composites with a hollow/mesoporous sphere structure and C/Co composites with a tubular structure have been successfully synthesized. Both composite samples show superparamagnetism exhibiting an S-type hysteresis loop, which originated from the cobalt nanoparticles in the samples. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption curves suggest that the SiO₂ and C supports have well-developed pore structures and large specific surface areas, and the loading and good dispersity of cobalt nanoparticles on the supports were proven by ICP and EDX. Moreover, the samples exhibited good and stable catalytic activity, demonstrating that the two composites are suitable catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch CO₂ hydrogenation.     

Insights into the Diffusion Behaviors of Water over Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic Catalysts During the Conversion of Syngas to High-Quality Gasoline

Although considerable efforts towards directly converting syngas to liquid fuels through Fischer–Tropsch synthesis have been made, developing catalysts with low CO₂ selectivity for the synthesis of high-quality gasoline remains a big challenge. Herein, we designed a bifunctional catalyst composed of hydrophobic FeNa@Si-c and HZSM-5 zeolite, which exhibited a low CO₂ selectivity of 14.3 % at 49.8 % CO conversion, with a high selectivity of 62.5 % for gasoline in total products. Molecular dynamic simulations and model experiments revealed that the diffusion of water molecules through hydrophilic catalyst was bidirectional, while the diffusion through hydrophobic catalyst was unidirectional, which were crucial to tune the water-gas shift reaction and control CO₂ formation. This work provides a new fundamental understanding about the function of hydrophobic modification of catalysts in syngas conversion.     

基于单原子催化剂的二氧化碳选择性转化

Industrial revolution has led to increased combustion of fossil fuels. Consequently, large amounts of CO₂ are emitted to the atmosphere, throwing the carbon cycle out of balance. Currently, the most effective method to reduce the CO₂ concentration is direct CO₂ capture from the atmosphere and pumping of the captured CO₂ deep underground or into the mid-ocean. The transformation of CO₂ into high-value chemicals is an attractive yet challenging task. In recent years, there has been much interest in the development of CO₂ utilization technologies based on electrochemical CO₂ reduction, photochemical CO₂ reduction, and thermal CO₂ reduction, and CO₂ valorization has emerged as a hot research topic. In electrochemical CO₂ reduction, the cathodic reaction is the reduction of CO₂ to value-added chemicals. The anodic reaction should be the oxygen evolution reaction, and water is the only renewable and scalable source of electrons and protons in this reaction. There is a plethora of research on the use of various metals to catalyze this reaction. Among these, Cu-based materials have been demonstrated to show unique catalytic activity and stability for the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to valuable fuels and chemicals. Moreover, the solar-driven conversion of CO₂ into value-added chemical fuels has attracted great attention, and much effort is being devoted to develop novel catalysts for the photoreduction of CO₂, especially by mimicking the natural photosynthetic process. The key step in the photocatalytic process is the efficient generation of electron-hole pairs and separation of these charge carriers. The efficient separation of photoinduced charge carriers plays a crucial role in the final catalytic activity. Compared with CO₂ reduction via electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, thermal reduction is more attractive because of its potential large-scale application in the industry. Heterogeneous nanomaterials show excellent activity in the electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, and thermal catalytic conversion of CO₂. However, nanostructured materials have drawbacks on the investigation of the intrinsic activity of the active sites. In recent years, single-site catalysts have become popular because they allow for maximum utilization of the metal centers, show specific catalytic performance, and facilitate easy elucidation of the catalytic mechanism at the molecular level. Accordingly, numerous single-site catalysts were developed for CO₂ reduction to produce value-added chemicals such as CO, CH₄, CH₃OH, formate, and C₂₊ products. Value-added chemicals have also been synthesized with the aid of amines and epoxides. This review summarizes recent state-of-the-art single-site catalysts and their application as heterogeneous catalysts for the electroreduction, photoreduction, and thermal reduction of CO₂. In the discussion, we will highlight the structure-activity relationships for the catalytic conversion of CO₂ with single-site catalysts.     

Effect of Ni Precipitation Method on CO Methanation over Ni/TiO2 Catalysts

A Ni/TiO₂(TBT) catalyst was prepared through in situ precipitation, using tetrabutyl titanate(TBT) as the TiO₂ precursor, and was studied in CO methanation. A Ni catalyst supported on commercial TiO₂ was also prepared through post precipitation and studied to compare the influence of Ni precipitation conditions on the catalyst's performance. To gain insight on their structure and physicochemical properties, the catalysts were characterized with N₂-adsorption, X-ray diffraction, transimission electron microscopy, H₂ temperature programmed reduction and temperature programmed desorption. The results showed that the in situ precipitation method was beneficial to the dispersion of Ni and the formation of more active sites on the Ni/TiO₂ catalyst. In addition, the density of the metal-support boundary and its interaction with the active component were also increased. These characteristics of Ni/TiO₂(TBT) led to a lower light-off temperature and a suppression of Ni sintering during CO methanation. As a consequence, the Ni/TiO₂(TBT) exhibited better catalytic behavior, with a CO conversion of 99.4% and CH₄ selecti-vity of 90.4% under the following conditions:p=1 MPa, t=320℃, n(H₂)/n(CO)=3, gas hour space velocity (GHSV)=2×10⁴ mL·g^-1·h^-1. The life test results of the two catalysts showed that Ni/TiO₂(TBT) was more stable and the catalytic activity remained at its initial level after being used for 30 h.