A Unique Amorphous Porous BiSbOx Nanotube with Abundant Unsaturated Sb‐Stabilized BiO8−x Sites for Efficient CO2 Electroreduction in a Wide Potential Window

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2024-09, Vol.34 (37), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Li, Xin, Wang, Jun‐Hao, Yuan, Chen‐Yue, Sun, Qi‐Wen, Shao, Jiang, Li, Xing‐Chi, Feng, Zhao‐Lu, Dong, Hao, Li, Chen, Zhang, Ya‐Wen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: amorphous materials; Carbon dioxide; Catalytic converters; Charge transfer; Chemical activity; CO2 reduction reaction; coordination‐unsaturated sites; Electrowinning; Energy conversion efficiency; formate/formic acid; Formic acid; Industrial applications; Mass transfer; Metal oxides; Nanotubes; porous BiSbOx nanotubes; Surface charge
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202402220

The CO2 electroreduction reaction using sustainable electricity emerges as a viable strategy to produce high‐value‐added and profitable chemicals. The achievement of superior activity at a lower overpotential and higher selectivity in a wide potential window is vitally important for large‐scale industrial applications. Herein, a carbon‐composite amorphous porous BiSbOx nanotube with abundant unsaturated sites is reported to boost the conversion of CO2 to formate, exhibiting a formate selectivity of >90% in an extremely broad range of potentials from −0.5 to −1.4 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a maximal energy conversion efficiency of 77.1%. Importantly, pure formic acid solution is directly obtained in a solid‐electrolyte cell for industrial‐scale applications. The porous tubular structure can expose more catalytic active sites, accelerate the mass transfer, and show fast surface charge transfer. Moreover, the unique coordination‐unsaturated Sb‐stabilized BiO8−x site can not only enhance the adsorption and activation of CO2 but also reasonably balance the stabilization and hydrogenation of *OCHO intermediate, thus leading to its obviously higher catalytic performance. As a result, a novel amorphous porous BiSbOx nanotube is successfully designed for efficient CO2 electroreduction, which may shed new light on developing many more amorphous composite metal oxide catalysts for conversion of inert small molecules. The amorphous porous BiSbOx nanotube with abundant coordination‐unsaturated Sb‐stabilized BiO8−x sites is superior for the reduction of CO2 to formate, exhibiting excellent catalytic activity and stability, high energy conversion efficiency of ≈80%, and prominent selectivity toward formate of >90% in a record potential window of ≈1000 mV.