Nanoparticles based on copper deposited on carbon spheres. Preparation, characterization and application for CO2 photo-electrochemical reduction

Copper Nanoclusters Imparted Metalloporphyrin Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enhanced CO2 Electroreduction

Strategies that can introduce catalytic auxiliary into electrocatalysts to boost the performance of electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) are meaningful in exploring hybrid electrocatalytic systems. Here, a series of hybrid electrocatalysts (Cu NCs@MOF-545-M, M=Fe, Co and Ni) have been prepared by assembly Cu NCs with MOF-545-M (M=Fe, Co and Ni) and successfully applied in electrocatalytic CO2RR. In the obtained MOF-545-M (M=Fe, Co and Ni), the integration of Cu NCs with MOF-545-M (M=Fe, Co and Ni) can create a hybrid electrocatalytic system that enhances the charge transfer efficiency and electrocatalytic CO2RR activity. Specifically, the optimal Cu NCs@MOF-545-Co presents remarkable FECO over a wide potential range (-0.7 V to -1.0 V), high CO generation rate (8.2 mol m-2 h-1) and excellent maximum energy efficiency (69 %, -0.7 V), which is superior to Cu NCs and MOF-545-Co, and represented to be one of the best performances to date. This work demonstrates a facile approach to significantly improve the FECO by loading metal nanoclusters into MOFs, providing a valuable reference for future studies on hybridization strategies to enhance the performance of electrocatalysts.