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.