A Supported Pd2Dual‐Atom Site Catalyst for Efficient Electrochemical CO2Reduction

Abstract

AbstractDual‐atom site catalysts (DACs) have emerged as a new frontier in heterogeneous catalysis because the synergistic effect between adjacent metal atoms can promote their catalytic activity while maintaining the advantages of single‐atom site catalysts (SACs), like 100 % atomic utilization efficiency and excellent selectivity. Herein, a supported Pd2DAC was synthesized and used for electrochemical CO2reduction reaction (CO2RR) for the first time. The as‐obtained Pd2DAC exhibited superior CO2RR catalytic performance with 98.2 % CO faradic efficiency at −0.85 V vs. RHE, far exceeding that of Pd1SAC, and coupled with long‐term stability. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the intrinsic reason for the superior activity of Pd2DAC toward CO2RR was the electron transfer between Pd atoms at the dimeric Pd sites. Thus, Pd2DAC possessed moderate adsorption strength of CO*, which was beneficial for CO production in CO2RR.