Boosting CO2 electroreduction over layered zeolitic imidazolate frameworks decorated with Ag2O nanoparticles

Silver (Ag) is one of the widely investigated catalysts for CO2 electroreduction. To improve the faradaic efficiency for CO production over Ag catalysts, many efforts have been devoted to tuning the size and morphology of Ag catalysts, using Ag-containing complex compounds or ionic liquid electrolyte. Herein, we report a strategy to enhance CO2 electroreduction by constructing a Ag2O/layered zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) composite structure via one-pot hydrothermal treatment of ZIF-7 nanoparticles (NPs) in AgNO3 aqueous solution. The Ag2O/layered ZIF shows much higher CO faradaic efficiency and current density than the layered ZIF or Ag/C alone. The performance improvement in CO2 electroreduction over the Ag2O/layered ZIF is probably attributed to the synergistic effect between Ag2O NPs and the layered ZIF, as well as facilitated mass transport due to the high specific surface area of the Ag2O/layered ZIF.