In situ construction of a crystalline/amorphous interface in SnO2/Bi nanobelts for efficient CO2 electroreduction

Abstract

The in situ electrochemical construction of materials is crucial for accurately identifying active sites, elucidating reaction mechanisms, and strategically developing catalysts. Herein, crystalline/amorphous (C/A)-SnO₂/Bi nanobelts (NBs) with abundant C/A interfaces were prepared via an in situ electrochemical dynamic reconstruction strategy using the C/A-SnO₂/BiOCl NBs as pre-catalysts. Impressively, compared with crystalline/crystalline SnO₂/Bi (C/C-SnO₂/Bi) and SnO₂, the C/A-SnO₂/Bi NBs exhibited prominent activity and excellent long-term stability with a considerable faradaic efficiency (FE) for HCOOH (FE_HCOOH) and an HCOOH yield of up to 96.4% and 0.1 mmol cm⁻² h⁻¹ at −1.3 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) during the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). Moreover, FE_HCOOH reached 81.2% at 400 mA cm⁻² in the flow cell. The C/A interfaces induced electron transportation and charge redistribution, which contributed to the intermediate adsorption and electron transfer during the CO₂RR process. This work highlights the crucial role of pre-catalyst reconstruction and presents a novel approach for utilizing C/A interface engineering in the CO₂RR.