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Title: Electrochemical CO2 Reduction with Atomic Iron-Dispersed on Nitrogen-Doped Graphene

Journal Article · · Advanced Energy Materials
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [5];  [5];  [1];  [3];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11]; ORCiD logo [11]
  1. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
  3. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering
  4. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
  5. Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China). Inst. of Functional Nano and Soft Materials
  6. Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang (China). Inst. for Energy Research
  7. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. Smalley-Curl Inst. The NanoCarbon Center
  8. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
  9. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering
  10. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang (China). Inst. for Energy Research
  11. Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering. Smalley-Curl Inst. The NanoCarbon Center

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 provides an opportunity to reach a carbon-neutral energy recycling regime, in which CO2 emissions from fuel use are collected and converted back to fuels. The reduction of CO2 to CO is the first step toward the synthesis of more complex carbon-based fuels and chemicals. Therefore, understanding this step is crucial for the development of high-performance electrocatalyst for CO2 conversion to higher order products such as hydrocarbons. Here, atomic iron dispersed on nitrogen-doped graphene (Fe/NG) is synthesized as an efficient electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction to CO. Fe/NG has a low reduction overpotential with high Faradic efficiency up to 80%. The existence of nitrogen-confined atomic Fe moieties on the nitrogen-doped graphene layer is confirmed by aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure analysis. The Fe/NG catalysts provide an ideal platform for comparative studies of the effect of the catalytic center on the electrocatalytic performance. The CO2 reduction reaction mechanism on atomic Fe surrounded by four N atoms (Fe–N4) embedded in nitrogen-doped graphene is further investigated through density functional theory calculations, revealing a possible promotional effect of nitrogen doping on graphene.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; FA9550-12-1-0035; FA9550-14-1-0111; 56256 DNI5; DE‐SC0012704; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1433979
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1429531; OSTI ID: 1435178
Report Number(s):
BNL-203515-2018-JAAM
Journal Information:
Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 19; ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 345 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Electrode Materials Engineering in Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction: Energy Input and Conversion Efficiency journal October 2019
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Rational Design of Novel Catalysts with Atomic Layer Deposition for the Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal August 2019
A Disquisition on the Active Sites of Heterogeneous Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 to Value‐Added Chemicals and Fuel journal November 2019
Engineering Local Coordination Environments of Atomically Dispersed and Heteroatom‐Coordinated Single Metal Site Electrocatalysts for Clean Energy‐Conversion journal November 2019
Engineering Electronic Structure of Stannous Sulfide by Amino‐Functionalized Carbon: Toward Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 to Formate journal January 2020
Highly Efficient CO 2 Electroreduction on ZnN 4 -based Single-Atom Catalyst journal August 2018
Nickel Metal–Organic Framework Monolayers for Photoreduction of Diluted CO 2 : Metal‐Node‐Dependent Activity and Selectivity journal December 2018
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Nickel Metal–Organic Framework Monolayers for Photoreduction of Diluted CO 2 : Metal‐Node‐Dependent Activity and Selectivity journal December 2018
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Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 to Alcohols on an FeP Nanoarray journal January 2020
Transition Metal (Fe, Co and Ni)−Carbide−Nitride (M−C−N) Nanocatalysts: Structure and Electrocatalytic Applications journal May 2019
Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction to C 1 Products on Single Nickel/Cobalt/Iron‐Doped Graphitic Carbon Nitride: A DFT Study journal November 2019
Optimizing Electron Densities of Ni‐N‐C Complexes by Hybrid Coordination for Efficient Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction journal February 2020
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Figures / Tables (5)