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Nitrogen and Boron Co‐Doped Carbon Spheres for Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction
Author(s) -
Cheng Chunfeng,
Shao Jiaqi,
Wei Pengfei,
Song Yanpeng,
Li Hefei,
Gao Dunfeng,
Wang Guoxiong
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemnanomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2199-692X
DOI - 10.1002/cnma.202100110
Subject(s) - overpotential , carbon fibers , electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide , materials science , catalysis , melamine , faraday efficiency , electrochemistry , inorganic chemistry , heteroatom , boron , chemical engineering , pyrolysis , chemistry , organic chemistry , electrode , composite material , composite number , carbon monoxide , ring (chemistry) , engineering
The electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) powered by renewable electricity is a promising route to close the carbon cycle, but it suffers from low product selectivity and high overpotential. Here we develop nitrogen and boron co‐doped hollow carbon spheres (NB−CS) through the pyrolysis of a mixture comprising low‐molecular‐weight phenolic resols, melamine and boric acid. The optimized NB−CS catalyst presents high CO 2 RR performance and achieves a CO Faradaic efficiency of 95.1% at a low overpotential of 310 mV, superior to carbon spheres doped with nitrogen or boron alone. Structural and electrochemical characterizations indicate that the efficient CO 2 RR to CO over the NB−CS catalyst is likely ascribed to the unique graphitized architecture along with high conductivity, large surface area and high density of exposed N and B reactive sites. This work highlights opportunities to use cost‐effective and readily available carbon nanomaterials as efficient CO 2 RR catalysts.