Bi/UiO-66-derived electrocatalysts for high CO2-to-formate conversion rate

In the CO2 electrocatalytic reduction reaction (CO2RR) technology, high CO2 conversion rate is highly required for efficient CO2 utilization from the CO2 resource. In this study, we propose the strategy of combining UiO-66 metal organic framework (MOF) structure with Bi electrocatalyst for highly active CO2RR with selective formic acid production. The synthesized Bi/UiO-66 catalyst shows superior CO2 reduction property, 4.6 times higher current density at −0.7 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) than bare Bi without UiO-66 despite of low electrochemical surface area. Also, NH2 functionalized UiO-66 shows almost no effect on CO2RR as compared to without NH2 probably due to disassembled linkers during CO2RR. Various characterizations such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicate carbonate species captured form of CO2 at Zr-MOF site should contribute the high CO2 conversion rate. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of Zr-MOF as a Supporting material to achieve efficient CO2 reduction.