Exfoliated Ultrathin ZnIn2S4 Nanosheets with Abundant Zinc Vacancies for Enhanced CO2 Electroreduction to Formate

Electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) is promising for balancing carbon cycles while producing value-added feedstocks. Herein, ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets with abundant Zn vacancies are demonstrated for electrochemically reducing CO2 to formate. Specifically, a partial current density of 245 mA cm(-2) with a near-unity faradaic efficiency of 94 % for formate generation was achieved over the ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets in a flow cell configuration. Experimental and theoretical results revealed that abundant Zn vacancies in the ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets with a high electrochemically active surface area synergistically optimized the intermediate binding energy and contributed to the boosted selectivity and activity. This work may provide useful understandings in designing efficient catalysts for selective CO2 electroreduction.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates that ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets with abundant Zn vacancies show promising performance in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction, with a high electrochemically active surface area and optimized intermediate binding energy contributing to boosted selectivity and activity. This could provide insights for designing efficient catalysts for selective CO2 electroreduction.