Ordered-Mesoporous-Carbon-Confined Pb/PbO Composites: Superior Electrocatalysts for CO Reduction.

CO electroreduction has gained significant interest. However, fabricating cost-effective nonprecious-metal electrocatalysts that can selectively convert CO to a specific product remains highly challenging. Herein, Pb-based materials consisting of Pb and PbO confined in ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) (Pb/PbO@OMC) were constructed for CO electroreduction to CO. Interestingly, the activity and selectivity of the Pb/PbO@OMC varied with the molar ratio of Pb /PbO. The material calcined at 800 °C (Pb/PbO@OMC-800) with a Pb /PbO ratio of 0.58 provided the best result with CO as the only carbon-based product, and the Faradaic efficiency of CO reached 98.3 % at a high current density of 41.3 mA cm . Detailed studies indicated that Pb , PbO, and OMC co-operated well to enhance the performance of Pb/PbO@OMC-800, which mainly originated from the good interface between Pb and PbO, higher electrochemical active surface area, and faster electron transfer to form the CO intermediate.