Boosting CO2 piezo-reduction via metal-support interactions in Au/ZnO based catalysts

Rundong Zhou; Di Wu; Jiangping Ma; Lujie Ruan; Yajie Feng; Chaogang Ban; Kai Zhou; Songjiang Cai; Li-Yong Gan; Xiaoyuan Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.169

Boosting CO₂ piezo-reduction via metal-support interactions in Au/ZnO based catalysts

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 May:661:512-519. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.169. Epub 2024 Feb 1.

Authors

Rundong Zhou¹, Di Wu², Jiangping Ma², Lujie Ruan², Yajie Feng², Chaogang Ban², Kai Zhou³, Songjiang Cai⁴, Li-Yong Gan⁵, Xiaoyuan Zhou⁶

Affiliations

¹ Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 1RH, United Kingdom.
² College of Physics and Center of Quantum Materials and Devices, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
³ Analytical and Testing Center, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
⁴ Chongqing DEPU Foreign Language School, Chongqing 401320, China.
⁵ College of Physics and Center of Quantum Materials and Devices, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China. Electronic address: ganly@cqu.edu.cn.
⁶ College of Physics and Center of Quantum Materials and Devices, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China; Analytical and Testing Center, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China. Electronic address: xiaoyuan2013@cqu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38308891
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.01.169

Abstract

Confronting the challenge of climate change necessitates innovative approaches for the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Metal-support interaction has been widely demonstrated to enable greatly improved performances in thermal-catalytic, photocatalytic and electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction. However, its applicability and specifically its role in the emerging piezo-electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction are unknown, severely hampering the utilizations of piezo-electrocatalysis in CO₂ conversion. Herein, by adopting Au particles supported on ZnO (Au/ZnO) as a paradigm, it is found that the metal-support interaction can remarkably improve the separation and transfer of piezo-carriers and enhance CO₂ adsorption. As a result, Au/ZnO demonstrates a substantially boosted activity for piezo-electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction and the optimal sample exhibits a 37.3% increase in CO yield compared to the pristine ZnO. The integration of metal-support interactions opens a new avenue to the design of advanced piezo-electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction.

Keywords: Au/ZnO; CO(2) reduction; Metal-support interaction; Piezo-electrocatalysis.