Tuning the local electronic structure of a single-site Ni catalyst by co-doping a 3D graphene framework with B/N atoms toward enhanced CO2 electroreduction

Abstract

Various single metal sites supported on N-doped carbon materials have been demonstrated to be effective catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction. However, it remains a challenging task to gain comprehensive understanding on how the local electronic structures of single metal catalytic sites are rationally tuned, which eventually holds the key to significantly enhance the electrocatalytic performance. Herein, we implement B–N bonds into an N-doped 3D graphene framework by B doping to further stabilize the supported catalytic Ni single-sites and simultaneously tune their local electronic structure. Moreover, electrochemical in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy reveals that the B–N bonds can further facilitate the production of pivotal *COOH intermediates in comparison with only N doping. As a result, the Ni single-site catalyst on the B, N co-doped 3D graphene framework achieves excellent catalytic performance with a CO faradaic efficiency (FE) of 98% and a turnover frequency (TOF) value of 20.1 s⁻¹ at −0.8 V (vs. RHE), whereas the FE and TOF for the control sample without B doping are as low as 62% and 6.0 s⁻¹, respectively. This work highlights the superiority of modulating local electronic structures of single-site catalysts toward efficient electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction.