Hybrid Catalyst Coupling Single-Atom Ni and Nanoscale Cu for Efficient CO2 Electroreduction to Ethylene

Zhouyang Yin; Jiaqi Yu; Zhenhua Xie; Shen-Wei Yu; Liyue Zhang; Tangi Akauola; Jingguang G Chen; Wenyu Huang; Long Qi; Sen Zhang

doi:10.1021/jacs.2c09773

Hybrid Catalyst Coupling Single-Atom Ni and Nanoscale Cu for Efficient CO₂ Electroreduction to Ethylene

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 Nov 16;144(45):20931-20938. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c09773. Epub 2022 Nov 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, United States.
² Department of Chemistry, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, United States.
⁴ U.S. DOE Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.

PMID: 36382467
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c09773

Abstract

A hybrid catalyst with integrated single-atom Ni and nanoscale Cu catalytic components is reported to enhance the C-C coupling and ethylene (C₂H₄) production efficiency in the electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (eCO₂RR). The single-atom Ni anchored on high-surface-area ordered mesoporous carbon enables high-rate and selective conversion of CO₂ to CO in a wide potential range, which complements the subsequent CO enrichment on Cu nanowires (NWs) for the C-C coupling to C₂H₄. In situ surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) confirms the substantially improved CO enrichment on Cu, once the incorporation of single-atom Ni occurs. Also, in situ X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) demonstrates the structural stability of the hybrid catalyst during eCO₂RR. By modulating hybrid compositions, the optimized catalyst shows 66% Faradaic efficiency (FE) in an alkaline flow cell with over 100 mA·cm^-2 at -0.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, leading to a five-order enhancement in C₂H₄ selectivity compared with single-component Cu NWs.