Gold catalyst reactivity for CO2 electro-reduction: From nano particle to layer

• A direct electro-catalytic CO2 conversion to CO by nanostructured gold catalysts was investigated.
• Reactivity was found to be strongly correlated with morphologies of gold catalysts.
• Gold nanoparticles with ∼4 nm size exhibited a remarkable CO formation mass activity.

CO2 electro-reduction is a promising method for sustainable production of carbon fuels as well as valuable chemicals. Herein, we investigated a direct electro-catalytic CO2 conversion to CO by nanostructured gold catalysts from the small nanoparticles to aggregated clusters to layered film. The selectivity of CO formation was found to increase as the gold amount increased and it reached a saturation point of ∼78% (−0.59 V vs. RHE) at the morphological transition from aggregated cluster to layered film. Furthermore, the ∼4 nm gold nanoparticle exhibited a remarkable CO formation mass activity value at 166.1 A/g (−0.59 V vs. RHE).

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