吡咯氮配位单原子铜催化剂的电催化二氧化碳还原性能

采用温度控制的浸渍-热解法, 合成了以碳纳米管为载体的一系列铜单原子催化剂. 扩展X射线吸收精细结构(EXAFS)分析表明, 催化剂中的单原子铜位点分别由吡啶氮和吡咯氮配位. 电催化性能测试表明, 所制备催化剂可用于电催化二氧化碳生成一氧化碳, 由吡啶氮配位的铜单原子催化剂的反应选择性较差, 而由吡咯氮配位的铜单原子催化剂则具有更强的活性, CO法拉第效率在-0.70 V(vs. RHE)时可达到96.3%; 吡咯氮配位的铜单原子中心对于析氢反应具有更好的抑制效果.     

Metal-Based Aerogels Catalysts for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

General strategies for metal aerogel synthesis, including single-metal, transition-metal doped, multi-metal-doped, and nano-metal-doped carbon aerogel are described. In addition, the latest applications of several of the above-mentioned metal aerogels in electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction are discussed. Finally, considering the possibility of future applications of electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction technology, a vision for industrialization and directions that can be optimized are proposed.     

Ultra-small Size ZIF-8 Materials for Efficient and Selective Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to CO

Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs) are considered as a novel porous material combining high stability in inorganic zeolites with high porosity and organic functionality of MOFs. The cage-like structure selectively and efficiently traps CO₂, which is an indispensable and critical step for Electrocatalytic CO₂ Reduction Reaction (CO₂RR). In this work, ultrasmall ZIF-8 nanomaterials are synthesized by tuning the molar ratio of the feedstock and used as electrocatalysts for the selective reduction of CO₂ to CO. The catalytic activity of the ultra-small size ZIF-8 material for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ can reach satisfactory results with a Faraday efficiency of 91 % for CO and a stability of 12.5 h at a high applied potential of −1.8 V vs. RHE. The investigation can provide a new idea to explore for the design and improvement of catalysts for CO₂RR.     

Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Alcohols on an FeP Nanoarray

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ into various chemicals and fuels provides an attractive pathway for environmental and energy sustainability. It is now shown that a FeP nanoarray on Ti mesh (FeP NA/TM) acts as an efficient 3D catalyst electrode for the CO₂ reduction reaction to convert CO₂ into alcohols with high selectivity. In 0.5 m KHCO₃, such FeP NA/TM is capable of achieving a high Faradaic efficiency (FE ) up to 80.2 %, with a total FE of 94.3 % at ?0.20 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the FeP(211) surface significantly promotes the adsorption and reduction of CO₂ toward CH₃OH owing to the synergistic effect of two adjacent Fe atoms, and the potential‐determining step is the hydrogenation process of *CO.     

单原子催化剂在电催化还原CO2领域的应用

温和条件下以CO₂为原料制备高附加值化学品, 是CO₂资源化利用的重要方法, 在众多CO₂转化方法中, 电催化CO₂还原(e-CO₂RR)具有绿色、 清洁及条件可控等优势, 可以促进碳中和, 实现可持续发展. 然而, 由于其缓慢的动力学和较低催化剂活性, CO₂电催化还原仍然存在低选择性, 低电流密度的问题. 单原子催化剂具有最大的原子利用率和明确定义的催化活性位点, 同时因其良好的配位结构和独特的电子结构极大地促进了CO₂电催化还原的动力学过程, 是CO₂电还原领域极具发展潜力的催化材料. 本文讨论了过渡金属和主族金属基单原子催化剂用于电催化CO₂还原的研究进展, 系统总结了杂原子配位, 双/单原子位点, 金属-载体相互作用, 空间限域和分子桥联等策略调控单原子的微环境进而优化催化的性能, 揭示了单原子催化剂在 e-CO₂RR领域内的突出优势和广阔的应用前景. 最后, 分析了单原子催化剂在CO₂电催化转化过程中面临的挑战, 并对其未来进行了展望.     

Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction: from Discrete Molecular Catalysts to Their Integrated Catalytic Materials

Molecular catalysts (metal complexes), with molecularly defined uniform active sites and atomically precise structural tailorability allowing for regulating catalytic performance through metal- and ligand-centered engineering and elucidating reaction mechanisms via routine photoelectrochemical characterizations, have been increasingly explored for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction (ECR). However, their poor stability and low catalytic current density are undesirable for practical applications. Heterogenizing discrete molecular catalysts can potentially surmount these issues, and the resulting integrated catalysts largely share catalytical properties with their discrete molecular counterparts, which bridge the gap between heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis and combine their advantages. This minireview surveys advances in design and regulation of molecular catalysts such as porphyrin, phthalocyanine, and bipyridine-based metal complexes and their integrated catalytic materials for selective ECR.     

Size-Dependent Nickel-Based Electrocatalysts for Selective CO2 Reduction

Closing the anthropogenic carbon cycle by converting CO₂ into reusable chemicals is an attractive solution to mitigate rising concentrations of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Herein, we prepared Ni metal catalysts ranging in size from single atoms to over 100 nm and distributed them across N-doped carbon substrates which were obtained from converted zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF). The results show variance in CO₂ reduction performance with variance in Ni metal size. Ni single atoms demonstrate a superior Faradaic efficiency (FE) for CO selectivity (ca. 97 % at −0.8 V vs. RHE), while results for 4.1 nm Ni nanoparticles are slightly lower (ca. 93 %). Further increase the Ni particle size to 37.2 nm allows the H₂ evolution reaction (HER) to compete with the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). The FE towards CO production decreases to under 30 % and HER efficiency increase to over 70 %. These results show a size-dependent CO₂ reduction for various sizes of Ni metal catalysts.     

Surface and Interface Engineering for the Catalysts of Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

The massive use of fossil fuels releases a great amount of CO₂, which substantially contributes to the global warming. For the global goal of putting CO₂ emission under control, effective utilization of CO₂ is particularly meaningful. Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO₂RR) has great potential in CO₂ utilization, because it can convert CO₂ into valuable carbon-containing chemicals and feedstock using renewable electricity. The catalyst design for eCO₂RR is a key challenge to achieving efficient conversion of CO₂ to fuels and useful chemicals. For a typical heterogeneous catalyst, surface and interface engineering is an effective approach to enhance reaction activity. Herein, the development and research progress in CO₂ catalysts with focus on surface and interface engineering are reviewed. First, the fundaments of eCO₂RR is briefly discussed from the reaction mechanism to performance evaluation methods, introducing the role of the surface and interface engineering of electrocatalyst in eCO₂RR. Then, several routes to optimize the surface and interface of CO₂ electrocatalysts, including morphology, dopants, atomic vacancies, grain boundaries, surface modification, etc., are reviewed and representative examples are given. At the end of this review, we share our personal views in future research of eCO₂RR.     

海胆针状金纳米颗粒用于电催化二氧化碳还原

采用不加表面活性剂的种子介导生长策略合成了具有针状结构的金纳米颗粒, 其针尖处的尖端电场效应能有效富集电解质阳离子并提高二氧化碳局部浓度, 从而提高催化剂的电流密度和一氧化碳选择性, 在 -0.6 V(vs. RHE)时的法拉第效率可以达到96%. 电化学性能测试结果表明, 其高选择性不仅来源于丰富的表面缺陷, 更主要源于其独特的针状结构所带来的尖端电场效应.     

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.     

单原子催化剂在氧还原反应中的分子级调控

氧还原反应(ORR)在电化学能量存储和转换系统以及精细化学制剂的清洁合成中发挥着重要作用. 然而, ORR过程的动力学极其缓慢, 需要使用铂族贵金属催化剂加快其反应动力学速率. 铂基催化剂的高成本严重阻碍了其大规模的商业化. 由于单原子催化剂(SACs)具有结构明确、 本征活性高和原子效率高的特点, 有望取代昂贵的铂族贵金属催化剂. 迄今, 在进一步提高SACs的ORR活性方面已有大量的研究报道, 包括定制金属中心的配位结构、 丰富金属中心的浓度以及设计衬底的电子结构和孔隙率等. 本文综合评述了近年来SACs在ORR性能以及与ORR相关的H₂O₂生产、 金属-空气电池和低温燃料电池等方面的应用研究进展. 总结了通过引入其它金属或配体来调整孤立金属中心的配位结构、 通过增加金属负载来增加单原子位点的浓度以及通过优化载体的孔隙度来优化催化性能和电子传输等方面的研究进展, 并对SCAs的未来发展方向和面临的挑战提出了展望.     

Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

One of the most effective ways to cope with the problems of global warming and the energy shortage crisis is to develop renewable and clean energy sources. To achieve a carbon-neutral energy cycle, advanced carbon sequestration technologies are urgently needed, but because CO₂ is a thermodynamically stable molecule with the highest carbon valence state of +4, this process faces many challenges. In recent years, electrochemical CO₂ reduction has become a promising approach to fix and convert CO₂ into high-value-added fuels and chemical feedstock. However, the large-scale commercial use of electrochemical CO₂ reduction systems is hindered by poor electrocatalyst activity, large overpotential, low energy conversion efficiency, and product selectivity in reducing CO₂. Therefore, there is an urgent need to rationally design highly efficient, stable, and scalable electrocatalysts to alleviate these problems. This minireview also aims to classify heterogeneous nanostructured electrocatalysts for the CO₂ reduction reaction (CDRR).     

用于二氧化碳电催化还原的电解器研究进展

The electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) driven by renewable energy is an efficient approach to achieve the conversion and utilization of CO₂. In this context, CO₂RR has become an emerging research focus in the field of electrocatalysis over the past decade. While a large number of nanostructured catalysts have been developed to accelerate CO₂RR, the tradeoff between activity and selectivity usually renders the overall electrocatalytic performance very poor. Beyond catalyst design, rationally designing electrolyzers is also of substantial importance for improving the CO₂RR performance and achieving its scale-up for practical applications. To a large extent, the electrolyzer configuration determines the local reaction environment near an electrode by affecting the process conditions, thereby resulting in remarkably different electrocatalytic performances. To be techno-economically viable, the performance of CO₂ electrolyzers is expected to be at least comparable to that of the current state-of-the-art proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzers, with regard to their activity, selectivity, and stability. Researchers have made great progress in the development of CO₂ electrolyzers over the past few years, but they are also facing many issues and challenges. This review aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the research progress and status of current CO₂ electrolyzers including H-cell, flow-cell, and membrane electrode assembly cell (MEA-cell) electrolyzers. Herein, operation at industrial current densities (> 200 mA∙cm⁻²) is set as a basis when these electrolyzers are discussed and compared in terms of the four main figures of merit (current density, Faradic efficiency, energy efficiency and stability) that describe the CO₂RR performance of an electrolyzer. The advantages and drawbacks of each electrolyzer are discussed and highlighted with emphasis on the key achievements reported to date. Compared to conventional H-cell electrolyzers that work well in mechanistic studies, the newly developed electrolyzers using gas diffusion electrodes, both flow-cell and MEA-cell electrolyzers, are able to break the limitation of CO₂ solubility in water and acquire industrial current densities. Although flow-cell electrolyzers have achieved current densities exceeding 1 A∙cm⁻², they suffer from low energy efficiencies because of the significant iR drop and poor stability owing to the use of alkaline electrolytes. These issues can be overcome in the case of zero-gap MEA-cell electrolyzers with ion exchange membranes being as solid electrolytes. The anion exchange membrane (AEM)-based CO₂ electrolyzers are at the center of the current research, as they demonstrate promising activity and selectivity toward specific CO₂RR products and exhibit excellent stability for over thousands of hours in few cases. Meanwhile, the crossover of CO₂ and liquid products from the cathode to the anode through the membrane tends to lower the utilization efficiency of the CO₂ supplied to the AEM electrolyzers. MEA-cell electrolyzers using cation exchange membranes and bipolar membranes have also been explored; however, neither of them have shown satisfactory CO₂RR performance. The development of new polymer electrolyte membranes and ionomers would help address these problems. While issues and challenges still exist, MEA-cell electrolyzers hold the greatest promise for practical applications. As concluding remarks, research strategies and opportunities for the future have been proposed to accelerate the development of CO₂RR technology for practical applications and to deepen the mechanistic understanding behind improved performance. This review provides new insights into rational electrolyzer design and guidelines for researchers in this field.     

SiC Monolayers as Promising Substrates for the Development of Highly Stable Palladium Single Atom Catalysts: A Density Functional Theory Study

Single-atom catalysts have been touted as highly efficient catalysts, but the catalytic single-atom sites are unstable and tend to aggregate into nanoparticles during chemical reactions. In this study, we show that SiC monolayers are promising substrates for the development of highly stable single-atom catalysts (Pd₁/SiC) within the density functional theory. In presence of a Si-vacancy, the diffusion barrier energy of a Pd₁ atom embedded in the SiC monolayer is substantially enhanced from 2.3 to 7.8 eV, which is much higher than the reported diffusion barrier energies of graphene, boron nitride and defective MgO of the same catalytic system. Ab initio molecular dynamic calculations at 500 K also confirm the enhanced stability of Pd₁/SiC monolayer (Si-vacancy) such that the Pd₁ atom remains embedded in the vacancy. Additionally, the Pd₁/SiC monolayer (Si-vacancy) catalysts show a ∼34 % reduction of activation barrier energy for CO oxidation as compared to pristine catalysts. This work implies that nanostructured SiC materials are promising substrates for the synthesis of highly stable single-atom catalysts.     

Metal‐Free Fluorine‐Doped Carbon Electrocatalyst for CO2 Reduction Outcompeting Hydrogen Evolution

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.     

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.     

In Situ Bismuth Nanosheet Assembly for Highly Selective Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Formate

The reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into value-added fuels using an electrochemical method has been regarded as a compelling sustainable energy conversion technology. However, high-performance electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) with high formate selectivity and good stability need to be improved. Earth-abundant Bi has been demonstrated to be active for CO₂RR to formate. Herein, we fabricated an extremely active and selective bismuth nanosheet (Bi-NSs) assembly via an in situ electrochemical transformation of (BiO)₂CO₃ nanostructures. The as-prepared material exhibits high activity and selectivity for CO₂RR to formate, with nearly 94% faradaic efficiency at −1.03 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE)) and stable selectivity (>90%) in a large potential window ranging from −0.83 to −1.18 V (vs. RHE) and excellent durability during 12 h continuous electrolysis. In addition, the Bi-NSs based CO₂RR/methanol oxidation reaction (CO₂RR/MOR) electrolytic system for overall CO₂ splitting was constructed, evidencing the feasibility of its practical implementation.     

Molybdenum Carbide as Alternative Catalysts to Precious Metals for Highly Selective Reduction of CO2 to CO

Rising atmospheric CO₂ is expected to have negative effects on the global environment from its role in climate change and ocean acidification. Utilizing CO₂ as a feedstock to make valuable chemicals is potentially more desirable than sequestration. A substantial reduction of CO₂ levels requires a large‐scale CO₂ catalytic conversion process, which in turn requires the discovery of low‐cost catalysts. Results from the current study demonstrate the feasibility of using the non‐precious metal material molybdenum carbide (Mo₂C) as an active and selective catalyst for CO₂ conversion by H₂.     

DFT-based Machine Learning for Ensemble Effect of Pd@Au Electrocatalysts on CO2 Reduction Reaction

The ensemble effect due to variation of Pd content in Pd−Au alloys have been widely investigated for several important reactions, including CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), however, identifying the stable Pd arrangements on the alloyed surface and picking out the active sites are still challenging. Here we use a density functional theory (DFT) based machine-learning (ML) approach to efficiently find the low-energy configurations of Pd−Au(111) surface alloys and the potentially active sites for CO₂RR, fully covering the Pd content from 0 to 100 %. The ML model is actively learning process to improve the predicting accuracy for the configuration formation energy and to find the stable Pd−Au(111) alloyed surfaces, respectively. The local surface properties of adsorption sites are classified into two classes by the K-means clustering approach, which are closely related to the Pd content on Au surface. The classification is reflected in the variation of adsorption energy of CO and H: In the low Pd content range (0–60 %) the adsorption energies over the surface alloys can be tuned significantly, and in the medium Pd content (37-68 %), the catalytic activity of surface alloys for CO₂RR can be increased by increase the Pd content and attributed to the meta-stable active site over the surface. Thus, the active site-dependent reaction mechanism is elucidated based on the ensemble effect, which provides new physical insights to understand the surface-related properties of catalysts.     

CO2 Capture,Separation and Reduction on Boron-Doped MoS2, MoSe2 and Heterostructures with Different Doping Densities: A Theoretical Study

Designing high-performance materials for CO₂ capture and conversion is of great significance to reduce the greenhouse effect and alleviate the energy crisis. The strategy of doping is widely used to improve activity and selectivity of the materials. However, it is unclear how the doping densities influence the materials’ properties. Herein, we investigated the mechanism of CO₂ capture, separation and conversion on MoS₂, MoSe₂ and Janus MoSSe monolayers with different boron doping levels using density functional theory (DFT) simulations. The results indicate that CO₂, H₂ and CH₄ bind weakly to the monolayers without and with single-atom boron doping, rendering these materials unsuitable for CO₂ capture from gas mixtures. In contrast, CO₂ binds strongly to monolayers doped with diatomic boron, whereas H₂ and CH₄ can only form weak interactions with these surfaces. Thus, the monolayers doped with diatomic boron can efficiently capture and separate CO₂ from such gas mixtures. The electronic structure analysis demonstrates that monolayers doped with diatomic doped are more prone to donating electrons to CO₂ than those with single-atom boron doped, leading to activation of CO₂. The results further indicate that CO₂ can be converted to CH₄ on diatomic boron doped catalysts, and MoSSe is the most efficient of the surfaces studied for CO₂ capture, separation and conversion. In summary, the study provides evidence for the doping density is vital to design materials with particular functions.