Activating inert non-defect sites in Bi catalysts using tensile strain engineering for highly active CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39994189.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56975-8 and PMC identifier 11850590.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
Bi-defect sites are highly effective for CO<sub>2</sub> reduction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) to formic acid, yet most catalytic surfaces predominantly feature inert, non-defective Bi sites. To overcome this limitation, herein, tensile strain is introduced on wholescale non-defective Bi sites. Under rapid thermal shock, the Bi-based metal-organic framework (Bi-MOF-TS) shows weakened Bi-O bonds and produced tiny Bi clusters. During electrochemical reduction, these clusters create numerous continuous vacancies, inducing weak tensile strain over a large range of surrounding non-defective Bi sites. This strain enhances *OHCO intermediates adsorption and substantially lowers the reaction barrier. As a result, Bi-MOF-TS achieves a faradaic efficiency above 90% across 800 mV potential range, with an impressive formate partial current density of -995 ± 93 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>. Notably, Bi-MOF-TS exhibits a high HCOOH faradaic efficiency of 96 ± 0.64% at 400 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> in acidic electrolyte and a high single-pass carbon conversion efficiency (SPCE) of 62.0%. Additionally, a Zn-CO<sub>2</sub> battery with Bi-MOF-TS as the cathode demonstrates a peak power density of 21.4 mW cm<sup>-2</sup> and maintains stability over 300 cycles.