Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide over reduced nanoporous zinc oxide

Nanoporous zinc oxide (ZnO) is prepared by a hydrothermal method followed by thermal decomposition for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2. In situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy results indicate that ZnO is reduced to Zn under the electrolysis conditions for catalyzing CO2 electroreduction. The reduced nanoporous ZnO exhibits obviously higher CO Faradaic efficiency and current density than commercial Zn foil with a maximum CO Faradaic efficiency of 92.0%, suggesting that the nanoporous structure facilitates electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 over reduced nanoporous ZnO, probably due to increased surface area and more coordination unsaturated surface atoms.