Efficient CO2 Electroreduction on Ag2S Nanodots Modified CdS Nanorods as Cooperative Catalysts

Abstract CdS nanorods have been regarded as a promising candidate for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction compared with other chalcogenide catalysts, owing to the high Faradaic efficiency for producing CO in aqueous electrolyte. Unfortunately, the CO generation rate of the bare CdS is relatively low due to the poor intrinsic activity. In this work, we modify the surface of CdS nanorods by Ag 2 S nanodots to promote the CO 2 reduction activity. With 5 wt % loading of Ag 2 S nanodots, we achieve the highest CO partial current density of 10.6 mA cm −2 at an applied potential of −1.1 V vs RHE, 11 % and 93 % enhancement compared to the separately synthesized CdS and Ag 2 S, respectively. When using flow cell to accelerate the CO 2 mass transfer, the cooperative catalyst realizes ∼95 % Faradaic efficiency for C 1 products with a fast CO 2 reduction rate at a current density of 200 mA cm −2 .