Facile and Stable CuInO2 Nanoparticles for Efficient Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

Lihong Yin; Zhiqiang Li; Jinxian Feng; Pengfei Zhou; Lulu Qiao; Di Liu; Zhibin Yi; Weng Fai Ip; Guangfu Luo; Hui Pan

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c11342

Facile and Stable CuInO₂ Nanoparticles for Efficient Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Oct 11;15(40):47135-47144. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c11342. Epub 2023 Oct 2.

Authors

Lihong Yin^{1

2}, Zhiqiang Li², Jinxian Feng¹, Pengfei Zhou¹, Lulu Qiao¹, Di Liu¹, Zhibin Yi², Weng Fai Ip³, Guangfu Luo^{2

4}, Hui Pan^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Macao 999078, P. R. China.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, P. R. China.
³ Department of Physics and Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macao 999078, P. R. China.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Science and Material Design, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, P. R. China.

PMID: 37782682
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c11342

Abstract

Searching for electrocatalysts for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (e-CO₂RR) with high selectivity and stability remains a significant challenge. In this study, we design a Cu-CuInO₂ composite with stable states of Cu⁰/Cu⁺ by electrochemically depositing indium onto CuCl-decorated Cu foil. The catalyst displays superior selectivity toward the CO product, with a maximal Faraday efficiency of 89% at -0.9 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode, and maintains impressive stability up to 27 h with a retention rate of >76% in Faraday efficiency. Our systematical characterizations reveal that the catalyst's high performance is attributed to CuInO₂ nanoparticles. First-principles calculations further confirm that CuInO₂(012) is more conducive to CO generation than Cu(111) under applied potential and presents a higher energy barrier than Cu(111) for the hydrogen evolution reaction. These theoretical predictions are consistent with our experimental observations, suggesting that CuInO₂ nanoparticles offer a facile catalyst with a high selectivity and stability for e-CO₂RR.

Keywords: CuInO2 nanoparticles; electrocatalysts; electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction; first-principles calculations; hydrogen evolution reaction.