Tuning selectivity of electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 by atomically dispersed Pt into SnO2 nanoparticles

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 into fuels offers an attractive approach to environmental and energy sustainability. Herein, we designed atomically dispersed Pt into SnO2 catalyst (Pt atom/SnO2). Such catalyst dramatically improves the adsorption performance of CO2 and lowers the activation energy of CO2. DFT calculations indicate that the doping of Pt in SnO2 could induce charge redistribution and tune active electronic state, showing higher adsorption energy for intermediates CO2*, HCOO* and HCOOH*, which is different from the Pt NPs loaded SnO2 mainly for H2 generation. As a result, a higher Faradaic efficiency (82.1 ± 1.4%) and the production rate (5105 μmol h−1 cm−2) of HCOO– are achieved at −1.2 V vs. RHE. Moreover, the current density and Faradaic efficiency of HCOO– nearly remain unchanged in 8 h on the Pt atom/SnO2, indicating its high stability. This work opens up a new avenue to tune product selectivity by atomically dispersed catalysts. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.