Revealing the Kinetic Balance between Proton-Feeding and Hydrogenation in CO2 Electroreduction.

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to high-value-added chemicals provides a feasible path for global carbon balance. Herein, the fabrication of NiNP x @NiSA y -NG (x,y = 1, 2, 3; NG = nitrogen-doped graphite) is reported, in which Ni single atom sites (NiSA ) and Ni nanoparticles (NiNP ) coexist. These NiNP x @NiSA y -NG presented a volcano-like trend for maximum CO Faradaic efficiency (FECO ) with the highest point at NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG in CO2 RR. NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG exhibited ≈98% of maximum FECO and a large current density of -264 mA cm-2 at -0.98 V (vs. RHE) in the flow cell. In situ experiment and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that the proper content of NiSA and NiNP balanced kinetic between proton-feeding and CO2 hydrogenation. The NiNP in NiNP2 @NiSA2 -NG promoted the formation of H* and reduced the energy barrier of *CO2 hydrogenation to *COOH, and CO desorption can be efficiently facilitated by NiSA sites, thereby resulting in enhanced CO2 RR performance.

VO4 -Modified Layered Double Hydroxides Nanosheets for Highly Selective Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction to C1 Products.

The conversion of CO2 into high-value added chemicals driven by solar energy is an effective way to solve environmental problems, which is, however, largely restricted by the competition reaction of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and easy electron-hole recombination, etc. Herein, VO4 -supported ultrathin NiMgV-layered double hydroxide (V/NiMgV-LDH) nanosheets are successfully fabricated, and the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and density function theory (DFT) calculations reveal that VO4 species are located on the top of V atoms in the NiMgV-LDH laminate. The V/NiMgV-LDH is proved to be highly efficient for the photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2 PR) with high selectivity of 99% for C1 products and nearly no HER (<1%) takes place under visible light. Contrast experiments using NiMgV-LDH as the catalyst for CO2 PR show a CO selectivity of 71.40% and a H2 selectivity of 28.11%. Such excellent performance of V/NiMgV-LDH can be attributed to the following reasons: 1) the V/NiMgV-LDH modulates the band structure and promotes the separation of electrons and holes; 2) strong bonding between V/NiMgV-LDH and CO* and H* facilitates the hydrogenation to form CH4 and inhibits the formation of by-product H2 at the same time.

Rational Regulation of Electronic Structure in Layered Double Hydroxide Via Vanadium Incorporation to Trigger Highly Selective CO2 Photoreduction to CH4.

To realize excellent selectivity of CH4 in CO2 photoreduction (CO2 PR) is highly desirable, yet which is challenging due to the limited active sites for CH4 generation and severe electron-hole recombination on photocatalysts. Herein, based on the theoretically calculated effects of vanadium incorporation into the laminate of layered double hydroxides (LDHs), V into NiAl-LDH to synthesize a series of LDHs with various V contents is introduced. NiV-LDH is revealed to afford a high CH4 selectivity (78.9%), and extremely low H2 selectivity (only 0.4%) under λ > 400 nm irradiation. By further tuning the molar ratio of Ni to V, a CH4 selectivity of as high as 90.1% is achieved on Ni4 V-LDH, and H2 is completely prohibited on Ni2 V-LDH. Fine structural characterizations and comprehensive optical and electrochemical studies uncover V incorporation creates the lower-valence Ni species as active sites for generating CH4 , and enhances the generation, separation, and transfer of photogenerated carriers.

Highly Selective Photoreduction of CO2 with Suppressing H2 Evolution over Monolayer Layered Double Hydroxide under Irradiation above 600†nm.

Although progress has been made to improve photocatalytic CO2 reduction under visible light (λ>400 nm), the development of photocatalysts that can work under a longer wavelength (λ>600 nm) remains a challenge. Now, a heterogeneous photocatalyst system consisting of a ruthenium complex and a monolayer nickel-alumina layered double hydroxide (NiAl-LDH), which act as light-harvesting and catalytic units for selective photoreduction of CO2 and H2 O into CH4 and CO under irradiation with λ>400 nm. By precisely tuning the irradiation wavelength, the selectivity of CH4 can be improved to 70.3 %, and the H2 evolution reaction can be completely suppressed under irradiation with λ>600 nm. The photogenerated electrons matching the energy levels of photosensitizer and m-NiAl-LDH only localized at the defect state, providing a driving force of 0.313 eV to overcome the Gibbs free energy barrier of CO2 reduction to CH4 (0.127 eV), rather than that for H2 evolution (0.425 eV).