Promoting electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to formate via sulfur-boosting water activation on indium surfaces

Nature Communications
Wenchao MaYe Wang

Abstract

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to fuels and chemicals is one of the most attractive routes for CO2 utilization. Current catalysts suffer from low faradaic efficiency of a CO2-reduction product at high current density (or reaction rate). Here, we report that a sulfur-doped indium catalyst exhibits high faradaic efficiency of formate (>85%) in a broad range of current density (25-100 mA cm-2) for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction in aqueous media. The formation rate of formate reaches 1449 μmol h-1 cm-2 with 93% faradaic efficiency, the highest value reported to date. Our studies suggest that sulfur accelerates CO2 reduction by a unique mechanism. Sulfur enhances the activation of water, forming hydrogen species that can readily react with CO2 to produce formate. The promoting effect of chalcogen modifiers can be extended to other metal catalysts. This work offers a simple and useful strategy for designing both active and selective electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction.

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Citations

Oct 20, 2020·Chemical Society Reviews·Wanlin GaoSang-Eon Park
Feb 23, 2021·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Xiao ZhangHongjie Dai
Feb 25, 2021·Chemical Society Reviews·Genxiang WangLiming Dai
Mar 2, 2021·Chemical Communications : Chem Comm·Juwon JeongYung-Eun Sung
Jan 30, 2021·Angewandte Chemie·Yan-Xin DuanQing Jiang
Feb 20, 2021·Angewandte Chemie·Cheng TangShi-Zhang Qiao
Apr 16, 2021·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Weiwei GuoBuxing Han
May 28, 2021·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Kim R Gustavsen, Kaiying Wang
Jul 29, 2019·Nano-micro Letters·Shulin ZhaoYuhui Chen
Jul 27, 2021·Chemical Society Reviews·An ZhangJie Zeng
Jul 30, 2021·ChemSusChem·Eric SchulerGert-Jan M Gruter
Aug 14, 2020·The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters·Xia-Guang ZhangZhong-Qun Tian
Aug 13, 2021·Angewandte Chemie·Lin JiaYanguang Li
Oct 7, 2021·Dalton Transactions : an International Journal of Inorganic Chemistry·Doufeng WuYun Tong
Nov 12, 2021·Advanced Science·Aya Gomaa Abdelkader MohamedYaobing Wang

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
nuclear magnetic resonance
X-ray
scanning electron microscopy
transmission electron microscopy
electron spectroscopy
transmission
Auger

Software Mentioned

Atomic Simulation Environment
Vienna Ab Initio Simulation Package ( VASP )

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