Issue 9, 2020 - Nanocatalysts for efficient conversion of carbon dioxide

Recently, researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China have designed a nanocatalyst with enrichment effect, combined with the rational design of the flow electrolytic cell, to achieve highly selective conversion
of carbon dioxide to the target product.
The work was published online in
the German Journal of Applied Chemistry and the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Using simple microwave thermal synthesis, the researchers prepared three cadmium sulfide nanostructures
with different radius of tip curvature by adjusting reaction parameters.
Finite element simulations show that the decrease in the radius of curvature of the tip of this semiconductor material will increase the electric field strength near the tip, thereby enhancing the enrichment
of potassium ions near the electrode.
Flow cell tests show that this multi-nanometer needle tip cadmium sulfide catalyst has better performance than other transition metal chalcogenide electrocatalysts
.
In addition to the "neighbor effect" of nano-multi-needle tip to achieve the enrichment of target ions, the research team further proposed to use the "confinement effect" of nano-cavities to enrich reaction intermediates to achieve high-efficiency conversion
of carbon dioxide to multi-carbon fuels.

The above studies show the important influence of catalyst nanostructure design on catalytic performance in carbon dioxide electroreduction reaction, and the nanoscale enrichment effect can effectively enhance the adsorption of key intermediates, thereby promoting the efficient operation
of the reaction.
This new design concept provides new ideas
for the design of related electrocatalysts and the synthesis of high value-added carbon-based fuels in the future.