Chemically coupling SnO 2 quantum dots and MXene for efficient CO 2 electroreduction to formate and Zn-CO 2 battery.
Lili HanXianyun PengHsiao-Tsu WangPengfei OuYuying MiChih-Wen PaoJigang ZhouJian WangXijun LiuWay-Faung PongJun SongZhang LinJun LuoHuolin L XinPublished in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2022)
Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into formate is a promising strategy for mitigating the energy and environmental crisis, but simultaneously achieving high selectivity and activity of electrocatalysts remains challenging. Here, we report low-dimensional SnO 2 quantum dots chemically coupled with ultrathin Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene nanosheets (SnO 2 /MXene) that boost the CO 2 conversion. The coupling structure is well visualized and verified by high-resolution electron tomography together with nanoscale scanning transmission X-ray microscopy and ptychography imaging. The catalyst achieves a large partial current density of -57.8 mA cm -2 and high Faradaic efficiency of 94% for formate formation. Additionally, the SnO 2 /MXene cathode shows excellent Zn-CO 2 battery performance, with a maximum power density of 4.28 mW cm -2 , an open-circuit voltage of 0.83 V, and superior rechargeability of 60 h. In situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy analysis and first-principles calculations reveal that this remarkable performance is attributed to the unique and stable structure of the SnO 2 /MXene, which can significantly reduce the reaction energy of CO 2 hydrogenation to formate by increasing the surface coverage of adsorbed hydrogen.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- reduced graphene oxide
- room temperature
- quantum dots
- gold nanoparticles
- ionic liquid
- perovskite solar cells
- electron microscopy
- mass spectrometry
- heavy metals
- high speed
- sensitive detection
- tandem mass spectrometry
- computed tomography
- molecular dynamics
- gene expression
- density functional theory
- molecular dynamics simulations
- magnetic resonance imaging
- risk assessment
- energy transfer
- magnetic resonance
- highly efficient
- high throughput
- single cell
- photodynamic therapy
- climate change
- dna methylation
- solar cells