Nickel phthalocyanine modified fruit-peel-derived carbon framework selectively electro-catalyzes CO2-to-CO conversion

Abstract

Developing a robust catalyst for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is critical to achieving a closed carbon cycle. Yet, the process of CO2RR still faces enormous challenges, in part because of the lack of highly active, stable, as well as cost-effective electrocatalysts. In this work, we reported an effective and sample strategy to immobilize nickel phthalocyanine (Ni-Pc) molecules on the fruit-peel-derived carbon framework surface (denoted as Ni-Pc/CF and carbon framework denoted as CF) with exceptional CO production performances. Dispersed Ni-Pc molecules on the carbon materials are verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman measurements. The obtained Ni-Pc/CF catalyst shows that the high faradaic efficiency (FE) exceeds 95.0 % over a potential of −0.7 to −0.9 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), VRHE), the maximum FE (99.1 %) can close to 100 % at −0.8 V, and the excellent stability over a 10 h reaction period. This work offers valuable insights into the immobilization of stabilized, highly dispersed molecule catalysts on carbon materials surfaces for selective reduction of CO2 to CO.