Contact-electro-catalytic CO2 reduction from ambient air

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 5913 - 12
• Main Authors: Wang, Nannan, Jiang, Wenbin, Yang, Jing, Feng, Haisong, Zheng, Youbin, Wang, Sheng, Li, Bofan, Heng, Jerry Zhi Xiong, Ong, Wai Chung, TAN, Hui Ru, Zhang, Yong-Wei, Wang, Daoai, Ye, Enyi, Li, Zibiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.07.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299/886; 639/4077/4072/4062; 639/638/161/886; Air pollution; Barriers; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon nitride; Carbon sequestration; Catalysis; Catalysts; Catalytic converters; Cellulose; Cellulose fibers; Chemical reduction; Electron transfer; Electrons; Energy consumption; Humanities and Social Sciences; Low concentrations; multidisciplinary; Nanogenerators; Polyvinylidene fluorides; Renewable energy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50118-1

Traditional catalytic techniques often encounter obstacles in the search for sustainable solutions for converting CO 2 into value-added products because of their high energy consumption and expensive catalysts. Here, we introduce a contact-electro-catalysis approach for CO 2 reduction reaction, achieving a CO Faradaic efficiency of 96.24%. The contact-electro-catalysis is driven by a triboelectric nanogenerator consisting of electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride loaded with single Cu atoms-anchored polymeric carbon nitride (Cu-PCN) catalysts and quaternized cellulose nanofibers (CNF). Mechanistic investigation reveals that the single Cu atoms on Cu-PCN can effectively enrich electrons during contact electrification, facilitating electron transfer upon their contact with CO 2 adsorbed on quaternized CNF. Furthermore, the strong adsorption of CO 2 on quaternized CNF allows efficient CO 2 capture at low concentrations, thus enabling the CO 2 reduction reaction in the ambient air. Compared to the state-of-the-art air-based CO 2 reduction technologies, contact-electro-catalysis achieves a superior CO yield of 33 μmol g −1 h −1 . This technique provides a solution for reducing airborne CO 2 emissions while advancing chemical sustainability strategy. Traditional catalytic techniques often encounter obstacles in the search for sustainable solutions for converting CO 2 into value-added products because of their high energy consumption and expensive catalysts. Here, we introduce a contact-electro-catalysis approach for CO 2 reduction reaction, achieving CO Faradaic efficiency of 96.24%.