Cu x Ni y alloy nanoparticles embedded in a nitrogen-carbon network for efficient conversion of carbon dioxide

Dongxing Tan; Jianling Zhang; Xiuyan Cheng; Xiuniang Tan; Jinbiao Shi; Bingxing Zhang; Buxing Han; Lirong Zheng; Jing Zhang

doi:10.1039/c9sc00174c

Cu _x Ni _y alloy nanoparticles embedded in a nitrogen-carbon network for efficient conversion of carbon dioxide

Chem Sci. 2019 Mar 15;10(16):4491-4496. doi: 10.1039/c9sc00174c. eCollection 2019 Apr 28.

Authors

Dongxing Tan¹, Jianling Zhang¹, Xiuyan Cheng¹, Xiuniang Tan¹, Jinbiao Shi¹, Bingxing Zhang¹, Buxing Han¹, Lirong Zheng², Jing Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences , CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid , Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics , Institute of Chemistry , Chinese Academy of Sciences , School of Chemical Sciences , University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049 , P. R. China . Email: zhangjl@iccas.ac.cn.
² Beijng Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) , Institute of High Energy Physics , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049 , P. R. China.

Abstract

The electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to CO using non-noble metal catalysts under mild conditions is of great importance. Achieving the combination of high activity, selectivity and current density by developing electrocatalysts with desirable compositions and structures is challenging. Here we prepared for the first time Cu _x Ni _y alloy nanoparticles embedded in a nitrogen-carbon network. Such an electrocatalyst not only well overcomes the disadvantages of single Cu and Ni catalysts but has a high CO₂ adsorption capacity. Outstandingly, the catalyst can effectively convert CO₂ into CO with a maximum faradaic efficiency of 94.5% and current density of 18.8 mA cm^-2 at a low applied potential of -0.60 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE). Moreover, the catalyst is very stable during long-term electrolysis owing to the stabilization of the nitrogen-carbon network.