Dual-Scale Integration Design of Sn-ZnO Catalyst toward Efficient and Stable CO2 Electroreduction

Bohua Ren; Zhen Zhang; Guobin Wen; Xiaowen Zhang; Mi Xu; Yueying Weng; Yihang Nie; Haozhen Dou; Yi Jiang; Ya-Ping Deng; Guiru Sun; Dan Luo; Lingling Shui; Xin Wang; Ming Feng; Aiping Yu; Zhongwei Chen

doi:10.1002/adma.202204637

Dual-Scale Integration Design of Sn-ZnO Catalyst toward Efficient and Stable CO₂ Electroreduction

Adv Mater. 2022 Sep;34(38):e2204637. doi: 10.1002/adma.202204637. Epub 2022 Aug 21.

Authors

Bohua Ren^{1

2}, Zhen Zhang², Guobin Wen², Xiaowen Zhang³, Mi Xu², Yueying Weng¹, Yihang Nie³, Haozhen Dou², Yi Jiang², Ya-Ping Deng², Guiru Sun⁴, Dan Luo^{1

2}, Lingling Shui¹, Xin Wang^{1

3}, Ming Feng⁴, Aiping Yu², Zhongwei Chen²

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nanophotonic Functional Materials and Devices, School of Information and Optoelectronic Science and Engineering & International Academy of Optoelectronics at Zhaoqing, South China Normal University, Guangdong, 510006, China.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.
³ South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangdong, 510006, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun, 130103, China.

PMID: 35948461
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202204637

Abstract

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction to CO is a potential sustainable strategy for alleviating CO₂ emission and producing valuable fuels. In the quest to resolve its current problems of low-energy efficiency and insufficient durability, a dual-scale design strategy is proposed by implanting a non-noble active Sn-ZnO heterointerface inside the nanopores of high-surface-area carbon nanospheres (Sn-ZnO@HC). The metal d-bandwidth tuning of Sn and ZnO alters the extent of substrate-molecule orbital mixing, facilitating the breaking of the *COOH intermediate and the yield of CO. Furthermore, the confinement effect of tailored nanopores results in a beneficial pH distribution in the local environment around the Sn-ZnO nanoparticles and protects them against leaching and aggregating. Through integrating electronic and nanopore-scale control, Sn-ZnO@HC achieves a quite low potential of -0.53 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with 91% Faradaic efficiency for CO and an ultralong stability of 240 h. This work provides proof of concept for the multiscale design of electrocatalysts.

Keywords: carbon dioxide reduction; d bandwidth; dual-scale; electrocatalysis; nanoconfinement.

Abstract

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