Atomically Dispersed Nickel Sites for Selective Electroreduction of CO₂

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction at its point of generation to form fuels and commodity chemicals using electricity from renewable sources is an appealing strategy for decreasing net anthropogenic CO₂ emissions and mitigating global warming. CO₂ reduction is however a kinetically slow and energy intensive reaction with a wide range of possible products. Therefore, the development of highly selective, energy-efficient, and cost-effective electrocatalysts is required to accelerate this kinetically sluggish process. We report facile synthesis of atomically dispersed Ni sites supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (Ni/NC), which significantly facilitates selective electrochemical CO₂ reduction to CO with a Faradaic efficiency reaching 92.3% at a low overpotential of 0.69 V (relative to the formal redox potential of CO₂ reduction to CO, E⁰_redox = −0.11 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, pH 0), surpassing Ni particles and many other reported metal-based catalysts. This study thus unveils a platform of activating Ni sites for selective reduction of CO₂.