Li Yaqian, Cao Xi, Chen Qingqing, Pan Rongrong, Zhang Jian, Meng Ge, Yang Yun, Li Yapeng, Mao Junjie, Chen Wei
Key Laboratory of Carbon Materials of Zhejiang Province, College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, 325035, P. R. China.
Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui, 241002, P. R. China.
Small. 2024 Dec;20(49):e2405367. doi: 10.1002/smll.202405367. Epub 2024 Sep 26.
Developing efficient electrocatalysts for CO reduction to CO within a broad potential range is meaningful for cascade application integration. In this work, hydrogen spillover is created and utilized to cultivate a proton-rich environment via the simple thermolysis of a Ni-doped Zn coordination polymer (Zn CPs (Ni)) to create asymmetric Ni single atoms co-located with adjacent Ni nanoclusters on nitrogen-doped carbon, termed as Ni/N-C, which expedites the hydrogenation of adsorbed CO. Therefore, the sample demonstrates near-unity CO-to-CO conversion efficiency under pH-universal conditions in ultra-wide potential windows: -0.39 to -2.05 V versus RHE with the current densities ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 A cm in alkaline conditions, -0.83 to -2.40 V versus RHE from 0.1 to 0.9 A cm in neutral environments, and -0.98 to -2.25 V versus RHE across 0.1 to 0.8 A cm in acid conditions. Corresponding in situ measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the enhanced HO dissociation and more efficient hydrogen spillover on Ni/N-C (compared to Ni/N-C) accelerate the protonation of adsorbed CO to form *COOH intermediates. This work emphasizes the significant role of proton spillover in CORR, opening novel avenues for designing high-performance catalysts applicable to various electrocatalytic processes.
开发在宽电位范围内将CO还原为CO的高效电催化剂对于级联应用集成具有重要意义。在这项工作中,通过简单热解镍掺杂的锌配位聚合物(Zn CPs (Ni))来产生并利用氢溢流,以在氮掺杂碳上培育富含质子的环境,从而形成与相邻镍纳米团簇共定位的不对称镍单原子,即Ni/N-C,这加速了吸附态CO的氢化。因此,该样品在超宽电位窗口的pH通用条件下表现出近乎单位的CO到CO的转换效率:在碱性条件下相对于可逆氢电极(RHE)为-0.39至-2.05 V,电流密度范围为0.1至1.0 A cm;在中性环境中相对于RHE为-0.83至-2.40 V,电流密度范围为0.1至0.9 A cm;在酸性条件下相对于RHE为-0.98至-2.25 V,电流密度范围为0.1至0.8 A cm。相应的原位测量和密度泛函理论(DFT)计算表明,与Ni/N-C相比,Ni/N-C上增强的HO解离和更有效的氢溢流加速了吸附态CO的质子化,形成*COOH中间体。这项工作强调了质子溢流在CO还原反应(CORR)中的重要作用,为设计适用于各种电催化过程的高性能催化剂开辟了新途径。