Facet-Defined Dilute Metal Alloy Nanorods for Efficient Electroreduction of CO2 to n-Propanol

Soojin Jeong, Chuanliang Huang, Zachary Levell, Rebecca X. Skalla, Wei Hong, Nicole J. Escorcia, Yaroslav Losovyj, Baixu Zhu, Alex N. Butrum-Griffith, Yang Liu, Christina W. Li, Danielle Reifsnyder Hickey, Yuanyue Liu, Xingchen Ye

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electroreduction of CO2 into liquid fuels is a compelling strategy for storing intermittent renewable energy. Here, we introduce a family of facet-defined dilute copper alloy nanocrystals as catalysts to improve the electrosynthesis of n-propanol from CO2 and H2O. We show that substituting a dilute amount of weak-CO-binding metals into the Cu(100) surface improves CO2-to-n-propanol activity and selectivity by modifying the electronic structure of catalysts to facilitate C1-C2 coupling while preserving the (100)-like 4-fold Cu ensembles which favor C1-C1 coupling. With the Au0.02Cu0.98 champion catalyst, we achieve an n-propanol Faradaic efficiency of 18.2 ± 0.3% at a low potential of −0.41 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode and a peak production rate of 16.6 mA·cm-2. This study demonstrates that shape-controlled dilute-metal-alloy nanocrystals represent a new frontier in electrocatalyst design, and precise control of the host and minority metal distributions is crucial for elucidating structure-composition-property relationships and attaining superior catalytic performance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4508-4520
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume146
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 21 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Facet-Defined Dilute Metal Alloy Nanorods for Efficient Electroreduction of CO2 to n-Propanol'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this