Fe and N co-doped carbon with High doping content of sulfur and nitrogen for efficient CO2 electro-reduction. Issue 42 (December 2020) - Chen, Yubin
Graphical abstract: Highlights: The SiO2 protecting shell prevents not only the aggregation of FeS nanoparticles, but also the volatilization of S and N species during the pyrolysis. The introduction of SiO2 protecting shell definitely conduces to increase the content of sulfur and nitrogen can reach as high as 1.73 and 6.59 at. %. The catalyst exhibits an excellent performance for converting CO2 to CO with high faradic efficiency (∼96.3 %) and total current density (5.11 mA cm −2 ) at -0.49 V. Abstract: The low density of active sites for transition metal and N, S co-doped carbon catalyst limits the catalytic activity of CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2 RR). Herein, we synthesize a S and N dual-doped carbon-based catalyst (FeSA-S/N-C) with a high doping content for efficient electroreduction of CO2 to CO. During the synthesis process, the precursor is coated with a layer of SiO2, which prevents the formation of FeS nanoparticles and trap the volatile heteroatom during the heat treatment. The sulfur and nitrogen doping content within the final catalyst are 1.73 and 6.59 at %. The FeSA-S/N-C catalyst presents an outstanding catalytic activity and selectivity toward CO2 RR with with remarkable total current density (5.11 mA cm −2 ) and high Faradaic efficiency (∼96.3 %) at -0.49 V (vs. RHE). The experiment results testify the introduce of sulfur can significantly expedite the kinetics rate for the CO formation. This work opens up new avenues to synthesize advanced Non-precious metal catalyst for efficient CO2 electroreduction reaction.