1. Ternary Sn‐Ti‐O Electrocatalyst Boosts the Stability and Energy Efficiency of CO 2 Reduction
- Author
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Jie Yang, Bohua Ren, Jeff T. Gostick, Lin Yang, Zhen Zhang, Ya-Ping Deng, Yongfeng Hu, Zhengyu Bai, Guobin Wen, Gianluigi A. Botton, Zhongwei Chen, Haozhen Dou, and Moon Gyu Park
- Subjects
Materials science ,010405 organic chemistry ,General Chemistry ,Overpotential ,010402 general chemistry ,Electrochemistry ,Electrocatalyst ,01 natural sciences ,Catalysis ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,chemistry ,Chemical engineering ,Ternary compound ,Ternary operation ,Mesoporous material ,Faraday efficiency ,Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide - Abstract
Simultaneously improving energy efficiency (EE) and material stability in electrochemical CO2 conversion remains an unsolved challenge. Among a series of ternary Sn-Ti-O electrocatalysts, 3D ordered mesoporous (3DOM) Sn0.3 Ti0.7 O2 achieves a trade-off between active-site exposure and structural stability, demonstrating up to 71.5 % half-cell EE over 200 hours, and a 94.5 % Faradaic efficiency for CO at an overpotential as low as 430 mV. DFT and X-ray absorption fine structure analyses reveal an electron density reconfiguration in the Sn-Ti-O system. A downshift of the orbital band center of Sn and a charge depletion of Ti collectively facilitate the dissociative adsorption of the desired intermediate COOH* for CO formation. It is also beneficial in maintaining a local alkaline environment to suppress H2 and formate formation, and in stabilizing oxygen atoms to prolong durability. These findings provide a new strategy in materials design for efficient CO2 conversion and beyond.
- Published
- 2020