Laser-fabricated channeled Cu6Sn5/Sn as electrocatalyst and gas diffusion electrode for efficient CO2 electroreduction to formate

• Published in: Applied catalysis. B, Environmental Environmental, 2022-06, Vol.307, p.120991, Article 120991
• Main Authors: Wang, Yijie, Chen, Yuke, Zhao, Yiwei, Yu, Jiayuan, Liu, Zhen, Shi, Yujie, Liu, Hong, Li, Xiao, Zhou, Weijia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide concentration; Chemical synthesis; CO2 electroreduction; Density functional theory; Drilling; Electric field distribution; Electric fields; Electrocatalysts; Electrodes; Electrowinning; Formate; Gas diffusion electrode; Gaseous diffusion; Intermediates; Intermetallic compounds; Irradiation; Laser drilling; Laser irradiation; Lasers; Metal foils
• ISSN: 0926-3373; 1873-3883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2021.120991

Formate synthesis by CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2RR) has been considered as a promising strategy for mitigating the excessive CO2. Here, we synthesize Cu6Sn5 alloy on Sn foil (Cu6Sn5/Sn) and gas diffusion electrode (GDE) using laser irradiation. Cu6Sn5/Sn exhibits high formate faradaic efficiency (FEformate) of 87.2% and remains stable at 28.69 mA cm−2 over 14 h. Further, with the help of laser drilling, the channeled Cu6Sn5/Sn used directly as GDE shows increased current density (118 mA cm−2) and steady FEformate (86.69%) in flow cell. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the high performance of Cu6Sn5/Sn benefits from the appropriate binding energy of the key intermediates *OCHO. Meanwhile, COMSOL simulation results of CO2 concentration and electric field distribution combined with the results of kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) prove that CO2RR prefers to occur around the channels of electrode. More importantly, this laser irradiation method is also available to synthesize other alloy electrocatalysts. [Display omitted] •Cu6Sn5 alloy were synthesized through laser irradiation.•The channeled Cu6Sn5/Sn prepared by laser drilling could directly use as GDE, and the current density increased 4-fold.•The enhanced CO2 electroreduction performance was revealed by COMSOL Multiphysics simulation and KPFM.