Highly effective sites and selectivity of nitrogen-doped graphene/CNT catalysts for CO₂ electrochemical reduction.

ABSTRACT: Metal-free catalysts, such as graphene/carbon nanostructures, are highly cost-effective to replace expensive noble metals for CO₂ reduction if fundamental issues, such as active sites and selectivity, are clearly understood. Using both density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamic calculations, we show that the interplay of N-doping and curvature can effectively tune the activity and selectivity of graphene/carbon-nanotube (CNT) catalysts. The CO₂ activation barrier can be optimized to 0.58 eV for graphitic-N doped graphene edges, compared with 1.3 eV in the un-doped counterpart. The graphene catalyst without curvature shows strong selectivity for CO/HCOOH production, whereas the (6, 0) CNT with a high degree of curvature is effective for both

SUBMITTER: Chai GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5975832 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature