Multiscale carbon foam confining single iron atoms for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO is a sustainable process for energy conversion. However, this process is still hindered by the diffusion-limited mass transfer, low electrical conductivity and catalytic activity. Therefore, new strategies for catalyst design should be adopted to solve these problems and improve the electrocatalytic performance for CO production. Herein, we report a multiscale carbon foam confining single iron atoms prepared with the assistant of SiO2 template. The pore-enriched environment at the macro-scale facilitates the diffusion of reactants and products. The graphene nanosheets at the nano-scale promote the charge transfer during the reaction. The single iron atoms confined in carbon matrix at the atomic-scale provide the active sites for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO. The optimized catalyst achieves a CO Faradaic efficiency of 94.9% at a moderate potential of −0.5 V vs. RHE. Furthermore, the performance can be maintained over 60 hours due to the stable single iron atoms coordinated with four nitrogen atoms in the carbon matrix. This work provides a promising strategy to improve both the activity and stability of single atom catalysts for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to CO.