A Supported Pd₂Dual‐Atom Site Catalyst for Efficient Electrochemical CO₂Reduction

Abstract

Abstract Dual‐atom site catalysts (DACs) have emerged as a new frontier in heterogeneous catalysis because the synergistic effect between adjacent metal atoms can promote their catalytic activity while maintaining the advantages of single‐atom site catalysts (SACs), like 100 % atomic utilization efficiency and excellent selectivity. Herein, a supported Pd 2 DAC was synthesized and used for electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) for the first time. The as‐obtained Pd 2 DAC exhibited superior CO 2 RR catalytic performance with 98.2 % CO faradic efficiency at −0.85 V vs. RHE, far exceeding that of Pd 1 SAC, and coupled with long‐term stability. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the intrinsic reason for the superior activity of Pd 2 DAC toward CO 2 RR was the electron transfer between Pd atoms at the dimeric Pd sites. Thus, Pd 2 DAC possessed moderate adsorption strength of CO*, which was beneficial for CO production in CO 2 RR.