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High‐Curvature Transition‐Metal Chalcogenide Nanostructures with a Pronounced Proximity Effect Enable Fast and Selective CO 2 Electroreduction
Author(s) -
Gao FeiYue,
Hu ShaoJin,
Zhang XiaoLong,
Zheng YaRong,
Wang HuiJuan,
Niu ZhuangZhuang,
Yang PengPeng,
Bao RuiCheng,
Ma Tao,
Dang Zheng,
Guan Yong,
Zheng XuSheng,
Zheng Xiao,
Zhu JunFa,
Gao MinRui,
Yu ShuHong
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201912348
Subject(s) - chalcogenide , transition metal , catalysis , electrolyte , inorganic chemistry , materials science , reversible hydrogen electrode , carbon monoxide , nanostructure , graphene , chemistry , electrode , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , working electrode , engineering , biochemistry
A considerable challenge in the conversion of carbon dioxide into useful fuels comes from the activation of CO 2 to CO 2 .− or other intermediates, which often requires precious‐metal catalysts, high overpotentials, and/or electrolyte additives (e.g., ionic liquids). We report a microwave heating strategy for synthesizing a transition‐metal chalcogenide nanostructure that efficiently catalyzes CO 2 electroreduction to carbon monoxide (CO). We found that the cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoneedle arrays exhibit an unprecedented current density of 212 mA cm −2 with 95.5±4.0 % CO Faraday efficiency at −1.2 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE; without i R correction). Experimental and computational studies show that the high‐curvature CdS nanostructured catalyst has a pronounced proximity effect which gives rise to large electric field enhancement, which can concentrate alkali‐metal cations resulting in the enhanced CO 2 electroreduction efficiency.