Hybrid atomic layers based electrocatalyst converts waste CO2 into liquid fuel

Abstract

To unravel the question of how oxide matters in its native metal catalysis, Xie’s and Sun’s group from Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science & Technology of China initially constructed an ideal model of intact metal atomic layer and hence deliberately created its oxide on the surface, forming an oxide/metal atomic layer catalyst mode. Benefiting from the atomic thickness, the built material model enabled most of the metal atoms or metal ions to distribute on the surface. In other words, the abundant surface metal atoms and metal ions could serve as the two typical active sites for involving surface catalytic reactions, hence providing the prerequisite for disclosing the crucial role of surface metal oxide in CO2 reduction of its native metal.