Carbon Dioxide Valorization via Formate Electrosynthesis in a Wide Potential Window

Abstract

AbstractThe electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising strategy to convert CO2 to carbon‐based fuels and to simultaneously reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In this work, the bismuth subcarbonate nanoflowers (BOC NFs) are facilely prepared through a one‐pot synthesis method for efficient formate electrosynthesis through CO2RR. Benefiting from the crystal structure and sheet‐stacked morphology, the in situ measurements and theoretical calculation results reveal the self‐reinforced CO2 adsorption properties and rapid CO2 adsorption–desorption kinetics on the catalyst surface, which significantly facilitate the CO2RR process. As a result, the desirable Faradaic efficiencies of over 90%, with a maximum value of 98.9%, toward formate formation, are achieved in a wide potential window from −0.8 to −1.4 V in an H‐type cell. Moreover, in a flow cell, the superior intrinsic activity of BOC NFs guarantees the high throughput electrocatalytic performance of CO2RR and the FEformate of over 90% with high current density is achieved in a potential range as wide as 1200 mV, demonstrating the great potential of BOC NFs for practical CO2RR applications. These results underscore the effectiveness of designing electrocatalysts with self‐reinforced CO2 adsorption properties to improve electrocatalytic performance for efficient CO2RR.