Iron-doping on Cu–N–C composite with enhanced CO faraday efficiency for the electrochemical reduction of CO2

Abstract

Fe–N–macrocycles have been viewing as the most promising catalyst for CO2ER. It is of great importance to explore the performance of composite CuFe–N–C in CO2ER. Fe-Cu–BTT precursor was prepared by introducing the ferrous ion to a microporous N-rich MOF. It exhibits a lower plateau temperature of 800 ℃ than the prototype. The pyrolysis product of FexCu–N–C increases the selectivity of CO2-to−CO due to the increase of the BET surface area, the total pore volume, and the Fe–Nx sites, as well as a lower density of Cu NPs in the carbon matrix. The Fe0.07Cu–N–C800 exhibits the highest FECO of 48.5 %.