Cu-doped zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF-8) for effective electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is a beneficial process for converting CO2 into useful hydrocarbons, chemicals, and fuels. Many catalysts have been tested before for CO2 electroreduction however achieving good stability, activity, and selectivity of the required product remains a challenge. In this work, we demonstrate the solvothermal synthesis and characterization of Cu-doped ZIF-8 catalysts with varying Cu+2 doping and applying them in the electrochemical CO2 reduction process. Cu30%ZIF-8 showed the highest current density of -40 mA cm−2 at -2.1 V vs. Ag/AgCl and better selectivity for CH4 and CO compared to previous works on Cu electrodes. This high activity of the Cu-doped ZIF-8 catalyst is because of the crystalline nanostructure of our catalyst with sufficient copper active metal sites and N-content, micro-meso dual-porosity nature of the structure, and broad surface area of zeolite imidazole framework to work on.