Nanocomposite catalyst of graphitic carbon nitride and Cu/Fe mixed metal oxide for electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO

To address the challenges of excessive emission of CO2, development of highly efficient electrocatalysts based on earth-abundant metals and non-metals for CO2 reduction is of great importance. Herein, we report a novel gC3N4/Cu2O-FeO heterogeneous nanocomposite catalyst for electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO, with a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 84.4 % at a low onset overpotential of -0.24 V vs. normal hydrogen electrode (NHE). Moreover, the turnover frequency for CO2 conversion to CO reached 10300 h-1 with a high selectivity of 96.3 % at -1.60 V vs. Ag/AgCl, corresponding to a thermodynamic overpotential of -0.865 V vs. NHE. The excellent CO2 reduction to CO can be attributed to the intimate interfacial interaction between the g-C3N4 and metal oxides (Cu2O-FeO) and the higher electrochemically active surface area. Therefore, this work demonstrates the use of a g-C3N4/mixed metal oxide heterostructure as a novel and efficient nanocomposite for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction in neutral aqueous medium.

Automated summary

A novel nanocomposite catalyst has been developed for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction to CO, achieving high Faradaic efficiency and selectivity, which can be attributed to the intimate interface interaction between materials and higher electrochemically active surface area.