title: Cu-CDots nanocorals as electrocatalyst for highly efficient CO2reduction to formate.
abstract: Electrochemical reduction of CO2is a key component of many prospective artificial technologies for renewable carbon-containing fuels, but it still suffers from the high overpotentials required to drive the process, low selectivity for diversiform products and the high cost of the catalyst. Here, we report that Cu-CDots nanocorals is a highly efficient, low-cost and stable electrocatalyst for CO2reduction in aqueous solution. The major product of CO2reduction on the Cu-CDots nanocorals is HCOOH with an inconceivable low overpotential of 0.13 V and a high Faraday efficiency of 79% at a moderate potential of -0.7 V vs. RHE. In the present system, CDots can increase the adsorption capacity of CO2molecules and H+, which play important roles in CO2reduction. The high selectivity of HCOOH for CO2reduction may be ascribed to that CDots can greatly diminish the HCOOH desorption energy and improve the catalytic selectivity for HCOOH. Furthermore, Cu-CDots nanocorals exhibit a long-term stability during 5 h-electrolysis.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, 199 Ren'ai Road, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, PR China. zhkang@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Sijie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Siqi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiuqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yijun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhenhui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kang