Spontaneously Sn-Doped Bi/BiO_<i>x</i> Core–Shell Nanowires Toward High-Performance CO₂ Electroreduction to Liquid Fuel

Abstract

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction provides a promising strategy to product value-added fuels and chemical feedstocks. However, it remains a grand challenge to further reduce the overpotentials and increase current density for large-scale applications. Here, spontaneously Sn doped Bi/BiOx nanowires (denoted as Bi/Bi(Sn)O_<i>x</i> NWs) with a core-shell structure were synthesized by an electrochemical dealloying strategy. The Bi/Bi(Sn)O_<i>x</i> NWs exhibit impressive formate selectivity over 92% from -0.5 to -0.9 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and achieve a current density of 301.4 mA cm^-2 at -1.0 V vs RHE. In-situ Raman spectroscopy and theoretical calculations reveal that the introduction of Sn atoms into BiO_<i>x</i> species can promote the stabilization of the *OCHO intermediate on the Bi(Sn)O_<i>x</i> surface and suppress the competitive H₂/CO production. This work provides effective in situ construction of the metal/metal oxide hybrid composites with heteroatom doping and new insights in promoting electrochemical CO₂ conversion into formate for practical applications.