Carbon Nanotubes Codoped with Nickel and Nitrogen for Electrochemical Syngas Production

A nickel nitrocarburizing strategy is proposed to prepare efficient electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction. In the nitrocarburizing process, Ni,N-codoped carbon nanotubes could be grown from nickel substrates and provide catalytic sites and a fast electron transmission route for reducing CO₂. A high performance of syngas [carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H₂)] production has been realized with an industrial total current density (230 mA cm^–2) and a tunable CO/H₂ ratio (0.2–4.5). This shows the feasibility of the nitrocarburizing method to prepare electrocatalysts.