Perforated nitrogen-rich graphene-like carbon nanolayers supported Cu-In catalyst for boosting CO2 electroreduction to CO

The combination of a powerful CO2-enriching carrier and robust active component provides a new idea for the construction of efficient catalysts for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Herein, novel perforated nitrogen-rich graphene-like carbon nanolayers (PNGC) are prepared from biomass derivatives, which promotes the oriented deposition of In-doped Cu2(OH)3(NO3) nanosheet patches. A robust Cu-In/PNGC composite catalyst is then obtained via simple in-situ electrochemical reduction. Unsurprisingly, Cu- In/PNGC exhibits a CO Faradaic efficiency (FECO) of 91.3% and a remarkable CO partial current density (jCO) of 136.4 mA cm-2 at a moderate overpotential of 0.59 V for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). DFT calculations and experimental studies indicate that the strong carrier effect of PNGC makes PNGC carried Cu-In nanosheets improved the adsorption capacity of CO2 gas, reconfigured electronic structure, and reduced free energy of key intermediate formation, thereby the CO2 activation and conver- sion are promoted.(c) 2022 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The combination of a powerful CO2-enriching carrier and a robust active component provides a new idea for the construction of efficient catalysts for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. In this study, a Cu-In/PNGC composite catalyst is obtained by using perforated nitrogen-rich graphene-like carbon nanolayers (PNGC) as the carrier and In-doped Cu2(OH)3(NO3) nanosheet patches as the active component. The Cu-In/PNGC catalyst exhibits high Faradaic efficiency and remarkable CO partial current density for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction.