Reduced SnO₂ Porous Nanowires with a High Density of Grain Boundaries as Catalysts for Efficient Electrochemical CO₂‐into‐HCOOH Conversion

Abstract

Electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into energy-dense liquids, such as formic acid, is desirable as a hydrogen carrier and a chemical feedstock. SnO_x is one of the few catalysts that reduce CO₂ into formic acid with high selectivity but at high overpotential and low current density. We show that an electrochemically reduced SnO₂ porous nanowire catalyst (Sn-pNWs) with a high density of grain boundaries (GBs) exhibits an energy conversion efficiency of CO₂ -into-HCOOH higher than analogous catalysts. HCOOH formation begins at lower overpotential (350 mV) and reaches a steady Faradaic efficiency of ca. 80 % at only -0.8 V vs. RHE. A comparison with commercial SnO₂ nanoparticles confirms that the improved CO₂ reduction performance of Sn-pNWs is due to the density of GBs within the porous structure, which introduce new catalytically active sites. Produced with a scalable plasma synthesis technology, the catalysts have potential for application in the CO₂ conversion industry.