Surface Site-Specific Replacement for Catalysis Selectivity Switching
Jun‐Wei Zha, Xiangfu Meng, Wentao Fan, Qing You, Nan Xia, Wanmiao Gu, Yan Zhao, Lin Hu, Jin Li, Haiteng Deng, Hui Wang, Nan Yan, Zhikun Wu
Abstract
Surface atom replacement in materials without other composition/structure changes is challenging but is important for fundamental scientific research and for practical applications. In particular, for nanoparticles including nanoclusters, surface metal site-specific replacement with atomic precision has not yet been achieved. In this study, we for the first time achieved surface site-specific antigalvanic replacement with the remaining composition/structure and surface replacement-dependent selectivity in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations describe the catalysis selectivity switch induced by replacing Ag with Cu and explain why Cu replacement facilitates C 2 production. Also, CO 2 electroreduction to C 2 on well-defined metal nanoclusters is first reported in this study.