Promoting CO electroreduction to CO by a graphdiyne-stabilized Au nanoparticle catalyst.

The electrochemical CO reduction reaction (CORR) gives an ideal approach for producing valuable chemicals, offering dual benefits in terms of environmental preservation and carbon recycling. In this work, a strong synergistic effect is constructed by adopting electron-rich graphdiyne (GDY) as the supporting matrix, which significantly stabilizes the Au active sites and boosts the CORR process. The as-prepared GDY-supported Au nanoparticles (Au/GDY) exhibit excellent CORR performance, with an extremely high faradaic efficiency of 94.6% for CO as well as good stability with continuous electrolysis for 36 hours. The superior activity and stability of the Au/GDY catalyst can be attributed to the electronic interaction between Au nanoparticles and the GDY substrate, resulting in enhanced electron transfer rates and a stable network of catalytically active sites that ultimately promote the CORR.