Cation-Radius-Controlled Sn-O Bond Length Boosting CO2 Electroreduction over Sn-Based Perovskite Oxides.

Abstract

Despite the intriguing potential shown by Sn-based perovskite oxides in CO2 electroreduction (CO2 RR), the rational optimization of their CO2 RR properties is still lacking. Here we report an effective strategy to promote CO2 -to-HCOOH conversion of Sn-based perovskite oxides by A-site-radius-controlled Sn-O bond lengths. For the proof-of-concept examples of Ba1-x Srx SnO3 , as the A-site cation average radii decrease from 1.61 to 1.44 Å, their Sn-O bonds are precisely shortened from 2.06 to 2.02 Å. Our CO2 RR measurements show that the activity and selectivity of these samples for HCOOH production exhibit volcano-type trends with the Sn-O bond lengths. Among these samples, the Ba0.5 Sr0.5 SnO3 features the optimal activity (753.6 mA ⋅ cm-2 ) and selectivity (90.9 %) for HCOOH, better than those of the reported Sn-based oxides. Such optimized CO2 RR properties could be attributed to favorable merits conferred by the precisely controlled Sn-O bond lengths, e.g., the regulated band center, modulated adsorption/activation of intermediates, and reduced energy barrier for *OCHO formation. This work brings a new avenue for rational design of advanced Sn-based perovskite oxides toward CO2 RR.