A highly efficient atomic nickel catalyst for CO 2 electroreduction in acidic electrolyte.

The development of single atom catalysts (SACs) for CO 2 electroreduction in acidic electrolytes can greatly improve the CO 2 utilization efficiency but remains challenging. We report a carbon-embedded atomic nickel catalyst prepared from carbon black, porphyrin and nickel(II) salts. The catalyst shows excellent activity for CO 2 reduction with high CO faradaic efficiency of 99.9% and an industrial-level CO partial current density of 296.4 mA cm -2 in acidic media, which indicates the importance of carbon-supported SACs.