Enhancing CO2 Catalytic Adsorption on an Fe Nanoparticle-Decorated LaSrFeO4 + δ Cathode for CO2 Electrolysis

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 13; no. 7; pp. 8229 - 8238
• Main Authors: Liu, Changyang, Li, Shuting, Gao, Jianquan, Bian, Liuzhen, Hou, Yunting, Wang, Lijun, Peng, Jun, Bao, Jinxiao, Song, Xiwen, An, Shengli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 24.02.2021
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications; solid oxide electrolysis cells; nanoparticles; CO2 electrolysis; cathode; in-situ; Ruddlesen-Popper perovskite
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c18997

The development of cathode materials with high catalytic activity and low cost is a challenge for CO2 electrolysis based on solid oxide electrolysis cells. Herein, we report a low-cost and highly active metallic Fe nanoparticle-decorated Ruddlesden-Popper (La, Sr)­FeO4+δ cathode catalyst (Fe-RPLSF), which shows a high oxygen vacancy concentration and robust CO2 reduction rate. At 850 °C, the current density of the electrolysis cell with the Fe-RPLSF cathode reaches −1920 mA cm–2 at a voltage of 1.5 V, and the Faraday efficiency is as high as 100%. The polarization resistance at low frequency (0.1–10 Hz), which is the rate-limit step for CO2 electrolysis, significantly decreases with the exsolved Fe nanoparticles because of improved CO2 dissociative adsorption. Moreover, our electrolysis cell demonstrates acceptable short-term stability for direct CO2 electrolysis.