Bismuthene for highly efficient carbon dioxide electroreduction reaction

This paper reports the first large-scale synthesis of free-standing bismuthene and demonstrates its high electrocatalytic efficiency for formate (HCOO−) formation from CO2 reduction reaction. The catalyst exhibits a high Faradaic efficiency (99% at −580 mV vs. RHE), small onset overpotential (<90 mV), and high durability (no decay after 75 h and annealing at 400 °C). DFT calculations reveal the structure-sensitivity of the CO2 reduction reaction, suggesting that HCOO− formation is favored on the Bismuthene (111) facet due to compressive strain.

Fa Yang, Ahmed O. Elnabawy, Roberto Schimmenti, Ping Song, Jiawei Wang, Zhangquan Peng, Shuang Yao, Ruiping Deng, Shuyan Song, Yue Lin, Manos Mavrikakis, Weilin Xu