Exceptional Size-Dependent Activity Enhancement in the Electroreduction of CO2 over Au Nanoparticles
Open accessAbstract
The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to industrial chemicals and fuels is a promising pathway to sustainable electrical energy storage and to an artificial carbon cycle, but it is currently hindered by the low energy efficiency and low activity displayed by traditional electrode materials. We report here the size-dependent catalytic activity of micelle-synthesized Au nanoparticles (NPs) in the size range of ∼1-8 nm for the electroreduction of CO2 to CO in 0.1 M KHCO3. A drastic increase in current density was observed with decreasing NP size, along with a decrease in Faradaic selectivity toward CO. Density functional theory calculations showed that these trends are related to the increase in the number of low-coordinated sites on small NPs, which favor the evolution of H2 over CO2 reduction to CO. We show here that the H2/CO product ratio can be specifically tailored for different industrial processes by tuning the size of the catalyst particles.
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A strong correlation between binding energies of various reaction intermediates on transition metals and a lack of ability to independently control them poses a significant intrinsic limitation in developing suitable catalysts for large-scale commercialization of the CO2 reduction reaction.
“general understanding at present is that a strong correlation between binding energies of various reaction intermediates on transition metals and a lack of ability to independently control them poses a significant intrinsic limitation in developing suitable catalysts for large-scale commercialization of the CO2 reduction reaction.”
From Single-atom catalysts for CO <sub>2</sub> electroreduction with significant activity and selectivity improvements (2017) · cites this paper as [5]
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- Authors
- Mistry, H., Reske, R., Zeng, Z., Zhao, Z.-J., Greeley, J., Strasser, P., & Cuenya, B. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Central Florida (US)
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Department of Physics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
- Corresponding author
- Strasser, Peter
- Venue
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2014-11-17
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 47
- Pages
- 16473-16476
- ISSN
- 0002-7863 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5126
- OpenAlex
- W2318118246
- Cited by
- 690
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 77 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 92 · 2019: 95 · 2018: 75 · 2017: 54 · 2016: 44 · 2015: 31
- FWCI
- 14.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- Journal of the American Chemical Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Basic Energy Sciences (DE-FG02-08ER15995)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC 1069, STR 596/3-1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Catalysis › Catalysts for Methane Reforming
- Keywords
- electrochemical CO2 reduction, gold nanoparticles, size-dependent catalytic activity, micelle synthesis, co-production, Faradaic efficiency, low-coordinated sites, hydrogen evolution reaction, energy storage
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