Highly efficient and selective CO2 electro-reduction with atomic Fe-C-N hybrid coordination on porous carbon nematosphere

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 12; no. 9; pp. 2318 - 2323
• Main Authors: Zhong, Haixia, Meng, Fanlu, Zhang, Qi, Liu, Kaihua, Zhang, Xinbo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.09.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aqueous electrolytes; Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Coordination; Density functional theory; Doping; Electrocatalysts; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Porosity; Reduction; Research Article; Selectivity; Synthesis gas; carbon monoxide; porous carbon; carbon dioxide reduction; electrocatalysis; metal/nitrogen doping
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-019-2339-2

Carbon dioxide reduction (CO 2 RR) has become a promising way to address the energy and environmental crisis, of which the fundamental development of the optimal electrocatalysts is the crucial part. Herein, we develop Fe and N doping porous carbon nematosphere (FeNPCN) as an excellent CO 2 RR electrocatalyst in aqueous electrolyte. Featuring with the high conductivity, pore structure and abundant Fe and N doping, FeNPCN exhibits high catalytic activity with a high faradaic selectivity of CO (94%) and long-term durability. Moreover, the ratio of CO and H 2 can be changed by the applied potential for the different syngas related industry. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation results also reveal that the excellent catalytic activity is likely attributed to C and N hybrid coordination with atomic Fe.