Single-atom tailored atomically-precise nanoclusters for enhanced electrochemical reduction of CO₂-to-CO activity

The development of facile tailoring approach to adjust the intrinsic activity and stability of atomically-precise metal nanoclusters catalysts is of great interest but remains challenging. Herein, the well-defined Au8 nanoclusters modified by single-atom sites are rationally synthesized via a co-eletropolymerization strategy, in which uniformly dispersed metal nanocluster and single-atom co-entrenched on the poly-carbazole matrix. Systematic characterization and theoretical modeling reveal that functionalizing single-atoms enable altering the electronic structures of Au8 clusters, which amplifies their electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to CO activity by ~18.07 fold compared to isolated Au8 metal clusters. The rearrangements of the electronic structure not only strengthen the adsorption of the key intermediates “COOH, but also establish a favorable reaction pathway for the CO₂ reduction reaction. Moreover, this strategy fixing nanoclusters and single-atoms on cross-linked polymer networks efficiently deduce the performance deactivation caused by agglomeration during the catalytic process. This work contribute to explore the intrinsic activity and stability improvement of metal clusters.