Ligand-confined bismuth based nanodots for robust carbon dioxide reduction to liquid fuel at 1 A/cm2. (5th March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Yuhang; Chen, Rongzhen; Liu, Jinze; Cheng, Ling; Zhao, Jiawen; Lu, Yun; Feng, Jiaqi; Gong, Ziming; Li, Chunzhong
• Is Part Of: Chemical engineering science. Volume 267(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-03-05
• Subjects: Bismuth -- CO2 electroreduction -- Formate -- Ligand-confinement -- Nanodot; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Génie chimique -- Périodiques; Chemical engineering; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 660
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2022.118354
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0009-2509

Abstract

Highlights: We prepare ligand-confined Bi based nanodots for robust CO2 reduction. We prevent the aggregation of ultrasmall Bi-BiOx nanodots by ligand-derived carbon shell. We realize the CO2 -to-formate electroreduction FE of 96% at 1 A/cm 2 current density. We achieve excellent performance by retaining rich edge active sites in electrocatalysis. Abstract: The bismuth oxide (BiOx ) derived electrocatalysts hold the promise for effective carbon dioxide (CO2 ) reduction to formate as liquid fuel. However, the disappearance of the active edge sites during the electroreduction, due to the spontaneous aggregation of nanoclusters into large sheets, lowers the performance at high current densities. Here we develop a ligand-confined strategy to stabilize Bi-BiOx nanodots with a diameter of ca. 5 nm, enabling efficient CO2 reduction to formate with high activity (working current density up to 1 A/cm 2 ) and high selectivity (Faradaic efficiency of >95 %). We find that the poly(methacrylic acid) ligand would in-situ transform into carbon shell as a confinement area that limits the growth of Bi-BiOx nanodots, thus keeping the abundant active edge sites for CO2 reduction at wide working potentials. We also note that the carboxyl group in ligand remained on nanodots may provide oxygen donors for Bi-BiOx to maintain the selective formate generation at high current densities.