摘要
Density functional theory calculations were used to unravel the mechanism of CO_2 electroreduction on SnO_x surfaces. Under highly reducing conditions(<-0.6 V vs. RHE), the SnO(101) surface with oxygen vacancies is likely the active phase for CO_2 reduction. We showed that the proton-electron transfer to adsorbed *CO_2 forming *OCHO, a key intermediate for producing HCOOH, is energetically more favorable than the formation of *COOH, justifying the selectivity trends observed on Sn-based electrocatalysts. With linear scaling relations, we propose the free formation energy of *CO_2 at the oxygen vacancy as the reactivity descriptor. By engineering the strain of the SnO(101) surface, the selectivity towards HCOOH can be further optimized at reduced overpotentials.
Density functional theory calculations were used to unravel the mechanism of CO_2 electroreduction on SnO_x surfaces. Under highly reducing conditions(<-0.6 V vs. RHE), the SnO(101) surface with oxygen vacancies is likely the active phase for CO_2 reduction. We showed that the proton-electron transfer to adsorbed *CO_2 forming *OCHO, a key intermediate for producing HCOOH, is energetically more favorable than the formation of *COOH, justifying the selectivity trends observed on Sn-based electrocatalysts. With linear scaling relations, we propose the free formation energy of *CO_2 at the oxygen vacancy as the reactivity descriptor. By engineering the strain of the SnO(101) surface, the selectivity towards HCOOH can be further optimized at reduced overpotentials.
基金
financial support from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF 55581-DNI5)
the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS-J0663175)
the NSF CBET Catalysis and Biocatalysis Program (CBET-1604984)
