Single-Atom Anchored on Perovskite With Strong Metal-Oxide Interaction for Efficient High Temperature CO<sub>2</sub> Electrolysis.

Hu, Feng; He, Beibei; Chen, Kongfa; Ma, Wenjia; Huang, Yonglong; Zhao, Sunce; Chen, Yu; Zhao, Ling · Adv Mater · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Efficient electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> reduction remains a grand challenge in advancing carbon-neutral energy technologies. Here, an efficient solid-state approach for the fabrication of a novel single-atom Ir anchored Sr<sub>2</sub>Fe<sub>1.5</sub>Mo<sub>0.5</sub>O<sub>6-δ</sub> (SFM) perovskite electrocatalyst, designed for high temperature CO<sub>2</sub> electrolysis in solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is reported. The resulting four-coordinated Ir-O-Fe/Mo configuration induces pronounced interfacial electronic reconstruction and strong metal-oxide interaction, substantially lowering the energy barrier for CO<sub>2</sub> electrolysis, as indicated by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. When employed as a cathode in SOECs, the 2Ir/SFM (2 wt.% Ir) electrocatalyst achieves a high current density of 1.63 A cm<sup>-2</sup> at 1.5 V and 800 °C, along with excellent Faradaic efficiency and long-term operational stability. These findings offer atomistic insights into the structure-performance relationship of single-atom/perovskite heterostructures, underscoring the commercial potential of SOECs for CO<sub>2</sub> electrolysis.