Regulating the Water Dissociation on Atomic Iron Sites to Speed Up CO<sub>2</sub> Protonation and Achieve pH‐Universal CO<sub>2</sub> Electroreduction
Abstract Atomic Fe sites enabled electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) reduction (ECO 2 R) to carbon monoxide (CO) at low overpotentials. However, the narrow potential ranges for selective CO 2 conversion on atomic Fe sites hindered the CO production at high current densities. Therefore, unveiling the CO 2 electroreduction processes and clarifying the catalytic mechanisms on different atomic Fe sites are important for better design of atomic Fe catalysts toward efficient ECO 2 R. Herein, the ECO 2 R processes on single‐atom, dual‐atom, and cluster Fe sites are systematically investigated, and clarify that the balanced water dissociation and CO 2 protonation on dual‐atom Fe sites promote the efficient CO production. The dual‐atom Fe catalyst achieves Faradaic efficiencies of CO ( FE CO ) above 92% over a wide potential range of −0.4–−0.9 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and maintains FE CO of 91% after 153‐h electrolysis in H‐type cell. Benefitting from the favorable CO 2 protonation for ECO 2 R on dual‐atom Fe sites, pH‐universal CO 2 electroreduction is achieved in alkali‐/acid‐/bicarbonate‐fed membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer, with FE CO exceeds 98% in strongly acidic/alkaline and neutral mediums. The work reveals a water dissociation‐promoted CO 2 electroreduction on dual‐atom Fe sites and presents a feasible regulation of atomic Fe sites for highly active/selective ECO 2 R.
Authors
- Yihan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8150-7350)
- Qi Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5677-912X)
- Junxiu Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2512-4511)
- Haixia Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2839-0253)
- Keke Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8995-2176)
- Xinbo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5806-159X)
- Kai Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2109-8196)
- Jun Biao Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0858-8577)
- Yaowen Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4218-5771)
- Qi Hao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6801-0286)
- Depeng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0939-1004)
- Chuan Tian
- Ping Sun
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Jilin Normal University (CN)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Westlake University (CN)
- Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry (CN)
- Zhejiang University of Technology (CN)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Energy Materials
- Published
- 2024-08-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202401364
- Citations
- 12
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.23
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China