Iron/nickel nano-alloy encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon framework for CO2 electrochemical conversion with prominent CO selectivity

Abstract The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into renewable fuel offers a promising approach to combat raising level of greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. However, the lack of catalysts with high selectivity still impede the implement of this conversion in industry. Herein we introduce Fe/Ni nano-alloy, encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon frameworks, as an efficient electrocatalyst to boost the reduction process from CO2 to carbon monoxide (CO). This dual-metal decorated catalyst possesses outstanding CO2 electroreduction behavior, reaching Faradaic efficiency for CO as high as 96% under the potential of −1.0 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, the catalyst remains over 90% of CO Faradaic efficiency over 50 h electrolysis due to its promising architecture. Bader analysis reveals that the charge transferred from Fe/Ni nano-alloy to the N-doped carbon shell leads to an increased charge density on carbon layer, effectively promoting the electrochemical reduction of CO2.