In situ exsolved Co nanoparticles on Ruddlesden-Popper material as highly active catalyst for CO2 electrolysis to CO

We report a highly active Ruddlesden-Popper material with a mechanism of in situ exsolution of Co nanoparticles and its use as an effective catalyst for CO2 reduction to produce CO in a solid oxide electrolysis cell. This catalyst is simply prepared by transforming a perovskite of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.7Mn0.3O3 and revealed a good reversibility of structural transition between the Ruddlesden-Popper and the perovskite structure during reaction cycles. A very high current density of 630 mA/cm(2) can be accomplished at a voltage of 1.3 V and temperature of 850 degrees C with a very high Faraday efficiency of 95% or larger. More importantly, no sign of degradation is indicated as observed by galvanostatic stability test, implying that this Ruddlesden-Popper structure is highly robust as the cathode catalyst for the CO2 electrolysis. In situ exsolved Co nanoparticles and high concentration of oxygen vacancies caused by the structural transition are responsible for its high stability and catalytic activity, as characterized by several physicochemical analyses.