Unveiling Synergistic CuAuAg Nanoparticles on CuO for High-Yield CO2 Electroreduction

초록

The massive production of carbon dioxide (CO2) poses a serious threat to life on the Earth. Electrochemical CO2 reduction offers a promising route to convert CO2 into valuable fuels and feedstock chemicals. Among available catalysts, copper (Cu), a heterogeneous catalyst, exhibits excellent catalytic efficiency in converting CO2 to oxygenates and hydrocarbon fuels. Herein, to the best of our knowledge, we report for the first time the facile synthesis of trimetallic CuAuAg nanoparticles decorated on CuO sheets (CuAuAg/CuO composite) via the pulsed laser irradiation in liquid method, further used as a catalyst for the electroreduction of CO2 to various products, such as syngas (CO and H2), methane (CH4), formate, ethene (C2H4), and ethane (C2H6). A Faradaic efficiency of 77.34% was achieved for CO production using CuAuAg/CuO at -1.0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). In situ analysis of CuAuAg/CuO composite unveiled the CO2 reduction pathways, further confirmed via density functional theory. Notably, the trimetallic CuAuAg/CuO catalyst delivered a high CO yield rate of 5.1 mmol h-1 cm-2 at -1.0 V versus RHE. This study proclaims excellent CO2 conversion efficiency for large-scale biofuel production and potential fuel cell applications.

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