Design of Co-Cu Diatomic Site Catalysts for High-efficiency Synergistic CO2 Electroreduction at Industrial-level Current Density

Single atom catalysts (SACs) have been widely studied in the field of CO2 electroreduction, but industrial-level current density and near-unity product selectivity are still difficult to achieve. Herein, a diatomic site catalysts (DASCs) consisting of Co-Cu hetero-diatomic pairs is synthesized. The CoCu DASC exhibits excellent selectivity with the maximum CO Faradaic efficiency of 99.1 %. The CO selectivity can maintain above 95 % over a wide current density range from 100 mA cm(-2) to 500 mA cm(-2). The maximum CO partial current density can reach to 483 mA cm(-2) in flow cell, far exceed industrial-level current density requirements (>200 mA cm(-2)). Theoretical calculation reveals that the synergistic catalysis of the Co-Cu bimetallic sites reduce the activation energy and promote the formation of intermediate *COOH. This work shows that the introduction of another metal atom into SACs can significantly affect the electronic structure and then enhance the catalytic activity of SACs.

Automated summary

The CoCu DASC exhibits excellent selectivity and high current density, showing potential as a catalyst for industrial electrochemical CO2 reduction.