Semi‐Ionic C‐F Bonds Modulate Hydrogen Dynamics for Selective CO <sub>2</sub> ‐to‐CH <sub>4</sub> Electroreduction on Carbon Quantum Dots
ABSTRACT Electrochemical CO 2 reduction to CH 4 represents an attractive route for carbon recycling and energy storage, but remains limited by sluggish hydrogenation kinetics and ineffective management of reactive hydrogen species. Herein, we develop a molecular fusion strategy to synthesize fluorine‐rich carbon quantum dots (F1‐CQDs) featuring an unprecedented F content of up to 28.8 at. % in optimized F1‐CQDs. The catalyst delivers a CH 4 Faraday efficiency of 63.2% together with a CH 4 partial current density of 210.8 mA cm −2 in a flow cell. Combined in situ spectroscopy and theoretical calculations reveal that semi‐ionic C‐F bonds create abundant Lewis basic sites that selectively stabilize key CO 2 ‐reduction intermediates, while also regulating hydrogen dynamics by facilitating water activation and transient active hydrogen (*H) formation on neighboring carbon sites. This synergistic dual‐site functionality enhances the effective *H availability for stepwise hydrogenation without excessively favoring the competing hydrogen evolution reaction, as clarified by isotope labeling and *H‐scavenging experiments. This work establishes a clear structure‐activity relationship between C‐F bonding and catalytic performance, and provides a general design principle for metal‐free electrocatalysts through the coupled engineering of intermediate stabilization and hydrogen kinetics.
Authors
- K Wang
- Minghong Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9776-671X)
- Shuai Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4038-2384)
- Haolan Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4436-9144)
- Mingwan Zhang
- Liang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3771-4627)
- Cheng Lian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9016-832X)
- Wenhui Liu
- Huazhang Guo
- Kai Huang
- Xiaozhi Su
Institutions
- Shanghai University (CN)
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (CN)
- Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (CN)
- Fuzhou University (CN)
- Taizhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-05-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.3749916
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China