Rational design of CdCO3 nanoparticles decorated carbon nanofibers for boosting electrochemical CO2 reduction

Abstract

Efficient, robust and inexpensive catalysts are highly desirable to drive the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to value-added fuels. Herein, low-cost CdCO3 nanoparticles (NPs) decorated carbon nanofibers (CdCO3-CNFs) were synthesized by a facile one-pot method to boost the performance of CO2RR to CO. The obtained CdCO3-CNFs show a high Faradaic efficiency (93.4%) and a good partial current density (~10 mA cm−2) at a potential of −0.83 V. Moreover, CdCO3-CNFs achieve high CO production rates at moderately negative potentials and a good stability of 24 h with negligible degradation. The superior performance is attributed to the increased number of catalytically active sites, and the strong interaction between CdCO3 NPs and CNFs which promotes electron transfer and secures active sites. This study provides a promising strategy for the efficient and durable CO2RR by designing a carbonate/carbon system with a strong catalyst-support interaction.