Engineering Catalyst-Electrolyte Microenvironments to Optimize the Activity and Selectivity for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Cu and Ag.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (COR) driven by renewably generated electricity (e.g., solar and wind) offers a promising means for reusing the CO released during the production of cement, steel, and aluminum as well as the production of ammonia and methanol.

Theoretical insights into selective electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide.

Electrochemical conversion of CO and water to valuable chemicals and fuels is one of the promising alternatives to replace fossil fuel-based processes in realizing a carbon-neutral cycle. For practical application of such technologies, suppressing hydrogen evolution reaction and facilitating the activation of stable CO molecules still remain major challenges. Furthermore, high production selectivity toward high-value chemicals such as ethylene, ethanol, and even n-propanol is also not easy task to achieve.

Energy-efficient CO hydrogenation with fast response using photoexcitation of CO adsorbed on metal catalysts.

Many heterogeneous catalytic reactions occur at high temperatures, which may cause large energy costs, poor safety, and thermal degradation of catalysts. Here, we propose a light-assisted surface reaction, which catalyze the surface reaction using both light and heat as an energy source. Conventional metal catalysts such as ruthenium, rhodium, platinum, nickel, and copper were tested for CO hydrogenation, and ruthenium showed the most distinct change upon light irradiation.

Shaped Ir-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles for minimizing Ir utilization in oxygen evolution reaction.

Shaped Ir-Ni bimetallic nanoparticles were synthesized and used for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The obtained bimetallic nanoparticles showed significantly enhanced Ir mass activity and durability compared with Ir nanoparticles.

Shape effect of Ag-Ni binary nanoparticles on catalytic hydrogenation aided by surface plasmons.

Ag-Ni binary nanoparticles with different shapes (snowman and core-shell) were synthesized by modulating the lattice strain. In the catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol, a significant enhancement of the reaction rate was observed for the snowman shape in comparison with the core-shell shape under light irradiation.

Shaped Ni nanoparticles with an unconventional hcp crystalline structure.

Hourglass-shaped Ni nanoparticles were synthesized with a hexagonal close packed (hcp) structure. The unconventional crystalline structure could be stabilized by intensive utilization of hexadecylamine. The dense organic layer on the surface protected the meta-stable crystalline structure.

Highly coke-resistant ni nanoparticle catalysts with minimal sintering in dry reforming of methane.

Nickel catalysts are typically used for hydrogen production by reforming reactions. Reforming methane with carbon dioxide, called dry reforming of methane (DRM), is a good way to produce hydrogen or syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) from two notable greenhouse gases. However, Ni catalysts used for DRM suffer from severe coke deposition.