Electrochemical CO2-to-CO via enriched oxygen vacancies at gold/ceria interfaces

Abstract

The carbon dioxide electroreduction reaction (CO2RR) to carbon monoxide (CO) is a promising avenue to store renewable energy. Gold (Au) is a critical component of catalysts for CO production in CO2RR. Still, the high cost of Au together with the low mass activity hinders its potential towards practical CO2RR application. Here we report a strategy of catalyst design, oxygen vacancies modulation via controlling Au/ceria interface structures, to promote Au mass activity for CO production (jCO,mass) in CO2RR. Through ceria-nanocubes-supported Au nanoparticles fabrication, we construct Au/CeO2{100} interfaces with high concentration of oxygen vacancies facilitating CO2 adsorption and activation. We achieve, at 200 mA cm–2, a record jCO,mass of 678 mA mgAu–1 in CO2RR, a 1.3× improvement relative to the best prior reports.