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Highly Efficient, Selective, and Stable CO 2 Electroreduction on a Hexagonal Zn Catalyst
Author(s) -
Won Da Hye,
Shin Hyeyoung,
Koh Jaekang,
Chung Jaehoon,
Lee Hee Sang,
Kim Hyungjun,
Woo Seong Ihl
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201602888
Subject(s) - catalysis , facet (psychology) , selectivity , electrocatalyst , electrochemistry , materials science , electrolysis , hexagonal crystal system , chemical engineering , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , nanotechnology , crystallography , electrode , organic chemistry , psychology , social psychology , personality , engineering , electrolyte , big five personality traits
Abstract Electrocatalytic CO 2 conversion into fuel is a prospective strategy for the sustainable energy production. However, still many parts of the catalyst such as low catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability are challenging. Herein, a hierarchical hexagonal Zn catalyst showed highly efficient and, more importantly, stable performance as an electrocatalyst for selectively producing CO. Moreover, we found that its high selectivity for CO is attributed to morphology. In electrochemical analysis, Zn (101) facet is favorable to CO formation whereas Zn (002) facet favors the H 2 evolution during CO 2 electrolysis. Indeed, DFT calculations showed that (101) facet lowers a reduction potential for CO 2 to CO by more effectively stabilizing a . COOH intermediate than (002) facet. This further suggests that tuning the crystal structure to control (101)/(002) facet ratio of Zn can be considered as a key design principle to achieve a desirable product from Zn catalyst.