A highly dispersed and surface-active Ag-BTC catalyst with state-of-the-art selectivity in CO2 electroreduction towards CO

Abstract

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) towards CO is considered as one of the most promising routes to alleviate carbon emissions and achieve a carbon-neutral cycle. In this work, a highly dispersed Ag-BTC catalyst (BTC refers to the 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate ligand) with abundant catalytically active sites has been synthesized via a facile one-step hydrothermal method. Efficient, highly selective, and stable electrochemical reduction of CO2 into CO has been achieved on the Ag-BTC electrocatalyst. The faradaic efficiency of CO production from the CO2RR is around 95%, which is within the range of highest values reported to date. A correlation between the structure of the Ag-BTC electrode and its enhanced catalytic performance has been established through the combination of characterization results and electrochemical measurements. Furthermore, a lower Gibbs free energy change (∆G) for the rate-determining step regarding the formation of intermediate COOHads also leads to the superior catalytic performance of CO2RR on Ag-BTC.