Highly Efficient, Selective, and Stable CO sub(2) Electroreduction on a Hexagonal Zn Catalyst

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie Vol. 128; no. 32; pp. 9443 - 9446
• Main Authors: Won, Da Hye, Shin, Hyeyoung, Koh, Jaekang, Chung, Jaehoon, Lee, Hee Sang, Kim, Hyungjun, Woo, Seong Ihl
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.08.2016
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Catalysts; Electrode potentials; Morphology; Renewable energy; Selectivity; Tuning
• ISSN: 0044-8249; 1521-3757
• DOI: 10.1002/ange.201602888

Electrocatalytic CO sub(2) conversion into fuel is a prospective strategy for the sustainable energy production. However, still many parts of the catalyst such as low catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability are challenging. Herein, a hierarchical hexagonal Zn catalyst showed highly efficient and, more importantly, stable performance as an electrocatalyst for selectively producing CO. Moreover, we found that its high selectivity for CO is attributed to morphology. In electrochemical analysis, Zn (101) facet is favorable to CO formation whereas Zn (002) facet favors the H sub(2) evolution during CO sub(2) electrolysis. Indeed, DFT calculations showed that (101) facet lowers a reduction potential for CO sub(2) to CO by more effectively stabilizing a super(.)COOH intermediate than (002) facet. This further suggests that tuning the crystal structure to control (101)/(002) facet ratio of Zn can be considered as a key design principle to achieve a desirable product from Zn catalyst.Original Abstract: CO sub(2)-Umwandlung: Eine Strategie zur effizienten CO sub(2)-Reduktion nutzt einen hierarchischen hexagonalen Zn-Katalysator, der eine hochselektive und stabile Leistung in der CO-Produktion zeigt (siehe Bild). Die Produktselektivitaet kann ueber die Zn-Kristallstruktur und das Kristallebenenverhaeltnis (101)/(002) gesteuert werden.