Single-Atom Catalysts and Dual-Atom Catalysts for CO Electroreduction: Competition or Cooperation?

Developing highly active and selective electrocatalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO can reduce environmental pollution and mitigation of greenhouse gas emission. Owing to maximal atomic utilization, the atomically dispersed catalysts are broadly adopted in CO reduction reaction (CO RR). Dual-atom catalysts (DACs), with more flexible active sites, distinct electronic structures, and synergetic interatomic interactions compared to single-atom catalysts (SACs), may have great potential to enhance catalytic performance. Nevertheless, most of the existing electrocatalysts have low activity and selectivity due to their high energy barrier. Herein, 15 electrocatalysts are explored with noble metallic (Cu, Ag, and Au) active sites embedded in metal-organic hybrids (MOHs) for high-performance CO RR and studied the relationship between SACs and DACs by first-principles calculation. The results indicated that the DACs have excellent electrocatalytic performance, and the moderate interaction between the single- and dual-atomic center can improve catalytic activity in CO RR. Four among the 15 catalysts, including (CuAu), (CuCu), Cu(CuCu), and Cu(CuAu) MOHs inherited a capability of suppressing the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction with favorable CO overpotential. This work not only reveals outstanding candidates for MOHs-based dual-atom CO RR electrocatalysts but also provides new theoretical insights into rationally designing 2D metallic electrocatalysts.