Coupling *CO Protonation on Cu Single Atoms With H 2 O Dissociation on Bi Nanoclusters for Synergistic CO 2 ‐to‐Methanol Electrosynthesis

ABSTRACT The electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to methanol (CH 3 OH) represents a promising strategy for mitigating global warming and energy shortages. However, the rational design of high‐performance electrocatalysts for selective CO 2 ‐to‐CH 3 OH conversion remains challenging. Herein, we construct a dual‐site catalyst featuring Cu single atoms (Cu SAs ) and Bi nanoclusters (Bi NCs ) co‐anchored on a hierarchical porous nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) support (Cu SAs Bi NCs /NC). It delivers a high CH 3 OH Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 73.6% with a stability of 120 h in an H‐cell, and reaches a CH 3 OH partial current density of 106.6 mA cm −2 with 82% FE in a flow cell. The excellent performance is attributed to a synergistic mechanism: Cu SAs promote the generation and protonation of the key *CO intermediate, while Bi NCs facilitate H 2 O dissociation to supply *H to adjacent Cu sites. Their electronic interaction strengthens *CO adsorption and lowers its protonation barrier at Cu sites, while accelerating H 2 O activation at Bi sites. Furthermore, the confinement effect of the hierarchical pore structure in the NC support facilitates the enrichment of *CO intermediate and stabilizes the catalyst. This work establishes a conceptual framework for developing synergistic electrocatalysts through precise atomic‐scale component integration, offering an appealing strategy to boost CH 3 OH production by simultaneously tuning *CO adsorption/protonation and H 2 O dissociation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-09-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.78736
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
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article

Coupling *CO Protonation on Cu Single Atoms With H 2 O Dissociation on Bi Nanoclusters for Synergistic CO 2 ‐to‐Methanol Electrosynthesis

Wenlei Zhu, Xuanzhao Lu, Tonglin Yang, Quan Zhang et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
article

Coupling *CO Protonation on Cu Single Atoms With H 2 O Dissociation on Bi Nanoclusters for Synergistic CO 2 ‐to‐Methanol Electrosynthesis

Wenlei Zhu, Xuanzhao Lu, Tonglin Yang, Quan Zhang, Fangqi Yang, Haoming Yu
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT The electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to methanol (CH 3 OH) represents a promising strategy for mitigating global warming and energy shortages. However, the rational design of high‐performance electrocatalysts for selective CO 2 ‐to‐CH 3 OH conversion remains challenging. Herein, we construct a dual‐site catalyst featuring Cu single atoms (Cu SAs ) and Bi nanoclusters (Bi NCs ) co‐anchored on a hierarchical porous nitrogen‐doped carbon (NC) support (Cu SAs Bi NCs /NC). It delivers a high CH 3 OH Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 73.6% with a stability of 120 h in an H‐cell, and reaches a CH 3 OH partial current density of 106.6 mA cm −2 with 82% FE in a flow cell. The excellent performance is attributed to a synergistic mechanism: Cu SAs promote the generation and protonation of the key *CO intermediate, while Bi NCs facilitate H 2 O dissociation to supply *H to adjacent Cu sites. Their electronic interaction strengthens *CO adsorption and lowers its protonation barrier at Cu sites, while accelerating H 2 O activation at Bi sites. Furthermore, the confinement effect of the hierarchical pore structure in the NC support facilitates the enrichment of *CO intermediate and stabilizes the catalyst. This work establishes a conceptual framework for developing synergistic electrocatalysts through precise atomic‐scale component integration, offering an appealing strategy to boost CH 3 OH production by simultaneously tuning *CO adsorption/protonation and H 2 O dissociation.

Advanced Functional Materials
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CN), State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse (CN), Hubei Normal University (CN), State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science (CN), Monash University (AU), Nanjing University (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 30%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
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