Tuning catalyst-support interactions enable steering of electrochemical CO <sub>2</sub> reduction pathways

Tuning of catalyst-support interactions potentially offers a powerful means to control activity. However, rational design of the catalyst support is challenged by a lack of clear property-activity relationships. Here, we uncover how the electronegativity of a support influences reaction pathways in electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> reduction. This was achieved by creating a model system consisting of Cu nanoparticles hosted on a series of carbon supports, each with a different heteroatom dopant of varying electronegativity. Notably, we discovered that dopants with high electronegativity reduce the electron density on Cu and induce a selectivity shift toward multicarbon (C<sub>2+</sub>) products. With this design principle, we built a composite Cu and F-doped carbon catalyst that achieves a C<sub>2+</sub> Faradaic efficiency of 82.5% at 400 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, with stable performance for 44 hours. Using simulated flue gas, the catalyst attains a C<sub>2+</sub> FE of 27.3%, which is a factor of 5.3 times higher than a reference Cu catalyst.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science Advances
Published
2025-04-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado5000
Citations
14
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.09
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article

Tuning catalyst-support interactions enable steering of electrochemical CO 2 reduction pathways

Jinfeng Jia, Wan Ru Leow, Yiwei Shen, Shibo Xi et al.
14 citations
Science Advances
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
5.09
article

Tuning catalyst-support interactions enable steering of electrochemical CO 2 reduction pathways

Jinfeng Jia, Wan Ru Leow, Yiwei Shen, Shibo Xi, Ji‐Guang Zhang, Bernt Johannessen, Yanwei Lum, Sung‐Fu Hung, Tanmay Ghosh, Zainul Aabdin, Mingsheng Zhang, Yuke Li, Sibo Wang, Ping Luo, Ziyu Mi, Meng Wang
article en
14 citations

Abstract

Tuning of catalyst-support interactions potentially offers a powerful means to control activity. However, rational design of the catalyst support is challenged by a lack of clear property-activity relationships. Here, we uncover how the electronegativity of a support influences reaction pathways in electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> reduction. This was achieved by creating a model system consisting of Cu nanoparticles hosted on a series of carbon supports, each with a different heteroatom dopant of varying electronegativity. Notably, we discovered that dopants with high electronegativity reduce the electron density on Cu and induce a selectivity shift toward multicarbon (C<sub>2+</sub>) products. With this design principle, we built a composite Cu and F-doped carbon catalyst that achieves a C<sub>2+</sub> Faradaic efficiency of 82.5% at 400 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, with stable performance for 44 hours. Using simulated flue gas, the catalyst attains a C<sub>2+</sub> FE of 27.3%, which is a factor of 5.3 times higher than a reference Cu catalyst.

Science AdvancesVol. 11(14)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG), Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (AU), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (TW), National University of Singapore (SG), University of Wollongong (AU), Australian Synchrotron (AU), Institute of High Performance Computing (SG), Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (SG)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
5.09
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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