Pd single site-anchored perovskite cathode for CO2 electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cells

Pd single site-anchored La0.5Sr0.5FeO3-delta-Ce0.8Sm0.2O2-x (Pd-LSF(SDC)) cathode is constructed for CO2 electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cells. The decoration of Pd species on LSF greatly improves CO2 electrolysis performance with 65.7% enhancement in current density at 1.6 V compared with the LSF counterpart. Electrochemical and density functional theory calculation results suggest that the Pd species are atomically anchored on the LSF phase. The coordinatively unsaturated Pd with oxygen vacancies facilitates the CO2 dissociative adsorption, electron transfer and mass transport, thus greatly decreases the polarization resistance of the cathode and promotes the CO2 electrolysis performance. This work provides an effective strategy to design the supported single site catalyst for high-temperature CO2 electrolysis.