Bismuth-Nanosheet-Based Catalysts with a Reconstituted Bi<sup>0</sup> Atom for Promoting the Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> to Formate
Jian Wu, Yu Xiao, Haichuan He, Congcheng Yang, Dan Xia, Liqiang Wang, Jianhan Huang, Ning Zhao, Feiying Tang, Liu Deng, You‐Nian Liu
Abstract
The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 shows significant potential for the conversion of CO2 to valuable chemicals and fuels. Herein, we develop a method for the preparation of two-dimensional Bi-based catalysts by the reconstitution of a Bi0 atom (re-Bi NSs). In situ Raman spectral analysis reveals that the reconstituted fresh Bi0 is the electrocatalytic active center, while BiIII is not. The as-prepared electrocatalyst exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity for the generation of formate with a high faradaic efficiency (FEformate) of over 90% at an applied potential from −0.8 to −1.2 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), with the corresponding jformate ranging from −13.76 to −44.89 mA cm–2. Moreover, the maximum FEformate reaches 94.6% at −1.0 V versus RHE with jformate of −32.2 mA cm–2. The catalyst also shows good long-term stability. The re-Bi NSs in a flow cell achieved a FEformate of 94.6% with a high current density of −400.0 mA cm–2. Our new strategy for the preparation of a catalyst with a reconstituted Bi0 atom will provide a novel tool for the design of highly active and stable Bi-based electrocatalysts.