ZnOHF nanorods for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide

Abstract The utilization of carbon dioxide as a resource through electrocatalysis is one of the ideal ways to alleviate or solve the current ecological crisis mankind facing. The development of inexpensive and efficient catalysts is the key to promoting the industrialization of electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction. CO is an important industrial raw material, as a result, CO2 reduction to CO has important research significance. However, high-active noble metal catalysts that can convert CO2 to CO are difficult to apply in large scale. Zn-based catalysts are potential substitutes. However, the reduction activity of Zn-based catalysts still can not meet the actual needs. In this paper, ZnOHF material is employed in the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction for the first time. ZnOHF nanorods of different sizes are prepared through a simple hydrothermal synthesis method and tested in a Flow-Cell. The large specific surface area of the nanorods and the existence of F atoms on the surface of the material lead to good catalytic activity. The Flow-Cell accelerates the reaction mass transfer process. At −1.28V (vs. RHE), the R2-ZnOHF nanorods have the highest CO Faraday efficiency of 76.4% with the CO current density of 57.53 mA/cm2.