Driving up the Electrocatalytic Performance for Carbon Dioxide Conversion through Interface Tuning in Graphene Oxide-Bismuth Oxide Nanocomposites.

The integration of graphene oxide (GO) into nanostructured Bi 2 O 3 electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction (CO 2 RR) brings up remarkable improvements in terms of performance toward formic acid (HCOOH) production. The GO scaffold is able to facilitate electron transfers toward the active Bi 2 O 3 phase, amending for the high metal oxide (MO) intrinsic electric resistance, resulting in activation of the CO 2 with smaller overpotential. Herein, the structure of the GO-MO nanocomposite is tailored according to two synthetic protocols, giving rise to two different nanostructures, one featuring reduced GO (rGO) supporting Bi@Bi 2 O 3 core-shell nanoparticles (NP) and the other GO supporting fully oxidized Bi 2 O 3 NP. The two structures differentiate in terms of electrocatalytic behavior, suggesting the importance of constructing a suitable interface between the nanocarbon and the MO, as well as between MO and metal.