Electron-Rich Bi Nanosheets Promotes CO2•- Formation for High-Performance and pH-Universal Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction.

Abstract

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to chemical fuels such as formate offers a promising pathway to carbon-neutral future, but its practical application is largely inhibited by the lack of effective activation of CO2 molecules and pH-universal feasibility. Here, we report an electronic structure manipulation strategy to electron-rich Bi nanosheets, where electrons transfer from Cu donor to Bi acceptor in bimetallic Cu-Bi, enabling CO2RR towards formate with concurrent high activity, selectivity and stability in pH-universal (acidic, neutral and alkaline) electrolytes. Combined in situ Raman spectra and computational calculations unravel that electron-rich Bi promote CO2•- formation to activate CO2 molecules, and enhance the adsorption strength of *OCHO intermediate with an up-shifted p-band center, thus leading to its superior activity and selectivity of formate. Further integration of the robust electron-rich Bi nanosheets into III-V-based photovoltaic solar cell results in an unassisted artificial leaf with a high solar-to-formate (STF) efficiency of 13.7%.