Selective electroreduction of CO2 into CO over Ag and Cu decorated carbon nanoflakes

The electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (eCO(2)RR) has the potential to effectively cut carbon emission. However, the activity and selectivity of eCO(2)RR catalysts are topical due to the intricacy of the reaction components and mechanism. Herein, we have decorated silver and copper nanoparticles over carbon nanoflakes to achieve an Ag-Cu NPs/C system that enables selective reduction of CO2 into CO. The catalyst is prepared by incorporating Ag nanoparticles into a Cu-BTC MOF (HKUST-1) and subsequent carbonization that alters the surface composition, with improved activity and faradaic efficiency (FE) towards selective CO2 reduction. The evaluation of electrocatalytic performance reveals that the synthesized catalyst exhibits enhanced electrocatalytic activity and selectivity with a FECO of similar to 90% at -0.79 V-RHE and a current density (j) of 44.15 mA cm(-2) compared to Ag-NPs and Cu/C. The durability test over 40 h confirms the outstanding stability of Ag-Cu NPs/C. The lower Tafel slope value of only 75 mV dec(-1) corresponds to the fast reaction kinetics on the surface of Ag-Cu NPs/C. The synthetic protocol in this work offers an easy approach to the betterment of a cost-effective electrocatalyst with improved FE.