Recent progress in electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metal single‐atom catalysts

Abstract

Electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 (CO2RR) is a promising technology for alleviating the global warming caused by the emission of CO2. This technology, however, is still in the stage of finding efficient catalysts. The catalysts must be able to convert CO2 to other carbon‐based products with high activity and selectivity to valuable chemicals. In this review, previous development of heteroatom‐doped metal‐free carbon materials (H‐CMs) is briefly summarized. Recent progress of CO2RR promoted by metal single‐atom catalysts (M‐SACs) is then discussed with emphasis on the synthesis of M‐SACs, the catalytic performance, and reaction mechanisms. The high temperature pyrolysis method and electrodeposition are attracting attentions recently to prepare M‐SACs with high metal loading on N‐doped carbon materials, a very active M‐SACs system for the CO2RR. Theoretical calculations of free energy change on active sites, the Operando X‐ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), and Bader charge analysis reveal a significant role of metal oxidation state and charge transfer between metal atoms and absorbed CO. The challenges and perspectives for the extensive applications of M‐SACs in CO2RR are also discussed in this review.

Progress in regulating the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction performance through the synergistic effect of Cu-based bimetallics

“…The high-temperature pyrolysis method is widely used to prepare metal single-atom catalysts, which involves decomposing metal complexes or metal–organic frameworks. 114 After exploration by researchers, Cu-based bimetallic catalysts featuring diatomic sites can also be prepared by the pyrolysis method. 115,116 Yin and coworkers 115 employed a one-pot pyrolysis method to synthesize a bimetallic CoCu–N–C catalyst, as shown in Fig.…”

Elucidation of single atom catalysts for energy and sustainable chemical production: Synthesis, characterization and frontier science

“…Furthermore, the process of "anchoring" the metal atom to the support involves a charge transfer among the central metal sites and the substrate [523]. This type of metal-support interaction has been extensively investigated in SACs to regulate the electronic structure of catalysts, which consequently affects the intrinsic activity of active sites toward various electrocatalytic reactions [538]. Moreover, the local environments of the metal active sites in atomically dispersed metals determined the significantly different behavior between SACs and their bulk and nanoparticle counterparts [539,540].…”

Rational Design of Heterogeneous Dual-Atom Catalysts for CO2 Electroreduction Reactions

“…Geometrical defects and vacancies, generated at high temperatures, can form coordinating sites to metal atoms (M−π interactions) and new active sites for electrocatalytic reduction reactions . Several review papers were published recently on the electrocatalytic applications of SACs. ,,− …”