Amorphous carbon coating enhances activity of high rate CO2 electroreduction to CO

Abstract

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ is a promising strategy to realize clean energy and a balanced carbon cycle. However, a critical challenge for this approach is to develop effective electrocatalysts with high current density and selectivity. Here, we report the facile synthesis of a highly efficient carbon coated silver (Ag/C) catalyst for CO₂ reduction through a simple ultrasonic pyrolysis method. The obtained Ag/C exhibits high CO faradaic efficiency of up to 95% at a high current density of 800 mA cm⁻² in 1 M KOH, which is far superior to the performance of state-of-the-art Ag-based catalysts. Mechanistic investigations combined with surface spectroscopic studies reveal that the amorphous carbon shell can boost the CO₂ adsorption in the catalytic layer during CO₂ electroreduction, favoring the formation of highly active solid–liquid–gas interfacial environments. The findings of this study contribute to the design and synthesis of highly active Ag-based catalysts for industrial-level applications.