CoP 2 O 6 -Assisted Copper/Carbon Catalyst for Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 to Formate.

Reducing CO 2 into value-added chemicals and fuels by electrochemical reduction of CO 2 (CO 2 ER) in an aqueous medium is considered a potential way to store intermittent renewable energy and alleviate the energy crisis. Cu-based catalysts are a common electrocatalyst used in CO 2 ER. However, selectivity has always been a difficult problem to solve, especially in terms of the production of C 1 products. Based on the characteristics of the carbon framework and the CoP 2 O 6 species, herein, Cu and CoP 2 O 6 co-anchored N-doped hollow carbon spheres (CoP 2 O 6 /HCS-Cu) with a precisely controllable copper content were prepared, in order to produce formate with a high current density and Faraday efficiency from CO 2 ER. The ratio of copper to cobalt has a strong influence on the catalytic performance of the catalyst. In addition, the experimental results and density functional theory calculations show that CoP 2 O 6 is an important factor in promoting the formation of formate.