Electrochemical CO2 Reduction with Atomic Iron-Dispersed on Nitrogen-Doped Graphene
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
- Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China). Inst. of Functional Nano and Soft Materials
- Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang (China). Inst. for Energy Research
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. Smalley-Curl Inst. The NanoCarbon Center
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering
- Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and NanoEngineering; Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang (China). Inst. for Energy Research
- 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
Web of Science
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