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Hybridization of Defective Tin Disulfide Nanosheets and Silver Nanowires Enables Efficient Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 into Formate and Syngas
Author(s) -
He Rong,
Yuan Xin,
Shao Pengfei,
Duan Tao,
Zhu Wenkun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201904882
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , materials science , electrochemistry , nanowire , tin , syngas , chemical engineering , formate , nanotechnology , reversible hydrogen electrode , catalysis , electrode , chemistry , working electrode , organic chemistry , metallurgy , engineering
Integrating the defect engineering and conductivity promotion represents a promising way to improve the performance of CO 2 electrochemical reduction. Herein, the hybridized composite of defective SnS 2 nanosheets and Ag nanowires is developed as an efficient catalyst for the production of formate and syngas toward CO 2 electrochemical reduction. The Schottky barrier in Ag‐SnS 2 hybrid nanosheets is negligible due to the similar Fermi level of SnS 2 nanosheets and Ag nanowires. Accordingly, the free electrons of Ag nanowires participate in the electronic transport of SnS 2 nanosheets, and thus give rise to a 5.5‐fold larger carrier density of Ag‐SnS 2 hybrid nanosheets than that of SnS 2 nanosheets. In CO 2 electrochemical reduction, the Ag‐SnS 2 hybrid nanosheets display 38.8 mA cm −2 of geometrical current density at –1.0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode, including 23.3 mA cm −2 for formate and 15.5 mA cm −2 for syngas with the CO/H 2 ratio of 1:1. A mechanistic study reveals that the abundant defect sites and carrier density not only promote the conductivity of the electrocatalyst, but also increase the binding strength for CO 2 , which account for the efficient CO 2 reduction.