1. Activating inert antimony for selective CO2 electroreduction to formate via bimetallic interactions.
- Author
-
Yang, Wanfeng, Si, Conghui, Zhao, Yong, Wei, Qingru, Jia, Guixing, Cheng, Guanhua, Qin, Jingyu, and Zhang, Zhonghua
- Subjects
- *
ANTIMONY , *CATALYTIC activity , *CARBON dioxide , *ELECTROLYTIC reduction , *ELECTROCATALYSIS , *HYDROGEN evolution reactions , *ENERGY consumption - Abstract
Antimony (Sb) as a low-toxic and cost-effective metal is a promising material to catalyse CO 2 electroreduction to formate with practical viability. However, monometallic Sb suffers from intrinsically low catalytic activity and the competing hydrogen evolution. Here, we report nanoporous Sb-Bi alloys for substantially improving the catalytic activity of Sb and suppressing hydrogen evolution. The optimal Sb-Bi alloy exhibits a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 95.8 % toward formate production, surpassing the 11.6 % of monometallic Sb counterpart. Operating the catalyst in the flow cell demonstrates a formate partial current density of 734 mA cm−2 and cathodic energy efficiency of 59 % at a moderate overpotential of 800 mV, representing a record formate-production performance so far. Experimental and theoretical studies indicate that the Sb-Bi interactions activate Sb sites to selectively stabilize *OCHO intermediates, facilitating CO 2 -to-formate conversion. This work offers insights in manipulating bimetallic interactions to transform inert materials into active catalysts for efficient electrocatalysis. [Display omitted] • Sb-Bi interactions induce electrocatalytic switching from HER to CO 2 ER. • Sb 2 Bi 6 exhibits a maximum formate selectivity of 95.8 % in an H-type cell. • Sb 2 Bi 6 achieves a record formate activity of 734 mA cm−2 in a flow cell. • Sb-Bi interactions facilitate Sb sites to stabilize *OCHO for formate formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF