Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol on Hierarchical Pd/SnO₂ Nanosheets with Abundant Pd–O–Sn Interfaces

Abstract

Abstract Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into fuels using electricity generated from renewable sources helps to create an artificial carbon cycle. However, the low efficiency and poor stability hinder the practical use of most conventional electrocatalysts. In this work, a 2D hierarchical Pd/SnO 2 structure, ultrathin Pd nanosheets partially capped by SnO 2 nanoparticles, is designed to enable multi‐electron transfer for selective electroreduction of CO 2 into CH 3 OH. Such a structure design not only enhances the adsorption of CO 2 on SnO 2 , but also weakens the binding strength of CO on Pd due to the as‐built Pd–O–Sn interfaces, which is demonstrated to be critical to improve the electrocatalytic selectivity and stability of Pd catalysts. This work provides a new strategy to improve electrochemical performance of metal‐based catalysts by creating metal oxide interfaces for selective electroreduction of CO 2 .