Metal-Organic Frameworks-derived Indium Clusters/Carbon Nanocomposites for Efficient CO2 Electroreduction

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide into value-added products is a promising way to recycle the greenhouse gas, thus solving the crisis of global warming. Pressing challenges remain in regulating the catalytic selectivity. In this work, we demonstrated a metal-organic frameworks-assisted approach to synthesizing In species loaded on the surface of N doped carbon matrix. By controlling the particle sizes, the catalytic selectivity can be easily altered. The obtained Inc/NC possesses the outstanding capability for converting CO2 into CO. And 80.09% Faraday efficiency (FE) of CO can be achieved at 0.8 V vs. RHE. While the In2O3/C exhibits different catalytic behaviors, the main product is formic acid and the FE is more than 50% at 0.8 V vs. RHE. The selectivity reversal can be attributed to the strong interactions between In clusters and N atoms of carbon supports, which efficiently inhibits the formation of the by-product, formic acid. Our research has paved a new way to modulate catalytic selectivity by manipulating the fine structures of the catalysts.