Atomically Dispersed Metal‐Based Catalysts for Zn–CO₂Batteries

Abstract

Rechargeable aqueous Zn–CO2 batteries show great promise in meeting severe environmental problems and energy crises due to their combination of CO2 utilization and energy output, as well as advantages of high theoretical energy density, abundant raw materials, and high safety. Developing high‐efficiency and stable CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) electrocatalysts is of critical importance for the promotion of this technology. Atomically dispersed metal‐based catalysts (ADMCs), with extremely high atom‐utilization efficiency, tunable coordination environments, and superior intrinsic catalytic activity, are emerging as promising candidates for Zn–CO2 batteries. Herein, some recent developments in atomically dispersed metal‐based catalysts for Zn–CO2 batteries are summarized, including transition metal and non‐transition metal sites. Moreover, various synthetic strategies, characterization methods, and the relationship between active site structures and CO2RR activity/Zn–CO2 battery performance are introduced. Finally, some challenges and perspectives are also proposed for the future development of ADMCs in Zn–CO2 batteries.

Highly dispersed Ru clusters toward an efficient and durable hydrogen oxidation reaction

“…2a, which show that Ru c /NHCS possesses onset potential to yield a HOR current below 0 V vs. RHE, suggesting its favourable HOR energetics in alkaline electrolyte. 23 By contrast, Ru c /NHCS shows a negligible current-voltage feature in Ar-saturated solution (Fig. S12, ESI †), indicating that HOR electrolysis occurs on Ru c /NHCS.…”

“…Since then, various strategies have emerged to develop high-performance HOR catalysts, such as engineering the crystalline phase, 14 tuning the composition of alloy particles, 15,16 designing a core–shell structure, 17–22 constructing a hierarchical structure, 23 and so on. Accordingly, great advancements have been achieved, and most of the studies have focused on precious metals or their alloys.…”

“…A sweep rate of 1 mV s −1 was used to minimize the capacitive contribution and ensure a steady-state condition. 23 Unless otherwise stated, all the potentials reported here refer to the RHE. HOR polarization curves recorded from the catalysts are shown in Fig.…”

“…We speculate that the preferable OH adsorption on Ru c /NHCS is beneficial to the surface oxidation of adsorbed CO (Fig. S17, ESI†), 2,23 which explains its high CO-tolerant ability.…”

Oxygen Vacancy-Rich Amorphous Copper Oxide Enables Highly Selective Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Ethylene

“…Thus, the co-existence of Cu + and Vo synergistically contributes stronger affinities to *CO and *COH, which can optimize the C2H4 pathway 4 . Therefore, this inspires us to seek a catalyst with abundant Cu + and Vo species by employing the atomic regulation strategy [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] , which is considered to be active for C2H4 production.…”