Yongfu Sun

Partially oxidized atomic cobalt layers for carbon dioxide electroreduction to liquid fuel

Electroreduction of CO2 into useful fuels, especially if driven by renewable energy, represents a potentially ‘clean’ strategy for replacing fossil feedstocks and dealing with increasing CO2 emissions and their adverse effects on climate. The critical bottleneck lies in activating CO2 into the CO2•− radical anion or other intermediates that can be converted further, as the activation usually requires impractically high overpotentials. Recently, electrocatalysts based on oxide-derived metal nanostructures have been shown to enable CO2 reduction at low overpotentials. However, it remains unclear how the electrocatalytic activity of these metals is influenced by their native oxides, mainly because microstructural features such as interfaces and defects influence CO2 reduction activity yet are difficult to control. To evaluate the role of the two different catalytic sites, here we fabricate two kinds of four-atom-thick layers: pure cobalt metal, and co-existing domains of cobalt metal and cobalt oxide. Cobalt mainly produces formate (HCOO−) during CO2 electroreduction; we find that surface cobalt atoms of the atomically thin layers have higher intrinsic activity and selectivity towards formate production, at lower overpotentials, than do surface cobalt atoms on bulk samples. Partial oxidation of the atomic layers further increases their intrinsic activity, allowing us to realize stable current densities of about 10 milliamperes per square centimetre over 40 hours, with approximately 90 per cent formate selectivity at an overpotential of only 0.24 volts, which outperforms previously reported metal or metal oxide electrodes evaluated under comparable conditions. The correct morphology and oxidation state can thus transform a material from one considered nearly non-catalytic for the CO2 electroreduction reaction into an active catalyst. These findings point to new opportunities for manipulating and improving the CO2 electroreduction properties of metal systems, especially once the influence of both the atomic-scale structure and the presence of oxide are mechanistically better understood.

Oxygen Vacancies Confined in Ultrathin Indium Oxide Porous Sheets for Promoted Visible-Light Water Splitting

Finding an ideal model for disclosing the role of oxygen vacancies in photocatalysis remains a huge challenge. Herein, O-vacancies confined in atomically thin sheets is proposed as an excellent platform to study the O-vacancy-photocatalysis relationship. As an example, O-vacancy-rich/-poor 5-atom-thick In2O3 porous sheets are first synthesized via a mesoscopic-assembly fast-heating strategy, taking advantage of an artificial hexagonal mesostructured In-oleate complex. Theoretical/experimental results reveal that the O-vacancies endow 5-atom-thick In2O3 sheets with a new donor level and increased states of density, hence narrowing the band gap from the UV to visible regime and improving the carrier separation efficiency. As expected, the O-vacancy-rich ultrathin In2O3 porous sheets-based photoelectrode exhibits a visible-light photocurrent of 1.73 mA/cm(2), over 2.5 and 15 times larger than that of the O-vacancy-poor ultrathin In2O3 porous sheets- and bulk In2O3-based photoelectrodes.

Fabrication of flexible and freestanding zinc chalcogenide single layers

Inorganic graphene analogues (IGAs) are a conceptually new class of materials with attractive applications in next-generation flexible and transparent nanodevices. However, their species are only limited to layered compounds, and the difficulty in extension to non-layered compounds hampers their widespread applicability. Here we report the fabrication of large-area freestanding single layers of non-layered ZnSe with four-atomic thickness, using a strategy involving a lamellar hybrid intermediate. Their surface distortion, revealed by means of synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, is shown to give rise to a unique electronic structure and an excellent structural stability, thus determining an enhanced solar water splitting efficiency and photostability. The ZnSe single layers exhibit a photocurrent density of 2.14 mA cm(-2) at 0.72 V versus Ag/AgCl under 300 W Xe lamp irradiation, 195 times higher than that of bulk counterpart. This work opens the door for extending atomically thick IGAs to non-layered compounds and holds promise for a wealth of innovative applications.

Atomically Thick Bismuth Selenide Freestanding Single Layers Achieving Enhanced Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting

Thermoelectric materials can realize significant energy savings by generating electricity from untapped waste heat. However, the coupling of the thermoelectric parameters unfortunately limits their efficiency and practical applications. Here, a single-layer-based (SLB) composite fabricated from atomically thick single layers was proposed to optimize the thermoelectric parameters fully. Freestanding five-atom-thick Bi(2)Se(3) single layers were first synthesized via a scalable interaction/exfoliation strategy. As revealed by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, surface distortion gives them excellent structural stability and a much increased density of states, resulting in a 2-fold higher electrical conductivity relative to the bulk material. Also, the surface disorder and numerous interfaces in the Bi(2)Se(3) SLB composite allow for effective phonon scattering and decreased thermal conductivity, while the 2D electron gas and energy filtering effect increase the Seebeck coefficient, resulting in an 8-fold higher figure of merit (ZT) relative to the bulk material. This work develops a facile strategy for synthesizing atomically thick single layers and demonstrates their superior ability to optimize the thermoelectric energy harvesting.

Pits confined in ultrathin cerium(IV) oxide for studying catalytic centers in carbon monoxide oxidation

Finding ideal material models for studying the role of catalytic active sites remains a great challenge. Here we propose pits confined in an atomically thin sheet as a platform to evaluate carbon monoxide catalytic oxidation at various sites. The artificial three-atomic-layer thin cerium(IV) oxide sheet with approximately 20% pits occupancy possesses abundant pit-surrounding cerium sites having average coordination numbers of 4.6 as revealed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Density-functional calculations disclose that the four- and five-fold coordinated pit-surrounding cerium sites assume their respective role in carbon monoxide adsorption and oxygen activation, which lowers the activation barrier and avoids catalytic poisoning. Moreover, the presence of coordination-unsaturated cerium sites increases the carrier density and facilitates carbon monoxide diffusion along the two-dimensional conducting channels of surface pits. The atomically thin sheet with surface-confined pits exhibits lower apparent activation energy than the bulk material (61.7 versus 122.9 kJ mol(-1)), leading to reduced conversion temperature and enhanced carbon monoxide catalytic ability.

Ultrathin Co3O4 Layers Realizing Optimized CO2 Electroreduction to Formate

Electroreduction of CO2 into hydrocarbons could contribute to alleviating energy crisis and global warming. However, conventional electrocatalysts usually suffer from low energetic efficiency and poor durability. Herein, atomic layers for transition-metal oxides are proposed to address these problems through offering an ultralarge fraction of active sites, high electronic conductivity, and superior structural stability. As a prototype, 1.72 and 3.51 nm thick Co3O4 layers were synthesized through a fast-heating strategy. The atomic thickness endowed Co3O4 with abundant active sites, ensuring a large CO2 adsorption amount. The increased and more dispersed charge density near Fermi level allowed for enhanced electronic conductivity. The 1.72 nm thick Co3O4 layers showed over 1.5 and 20 times higher electrocatalytic activity than 3.51 nm thick Co3O4 layers and bulk counterpart, respectively. Also, 1.72 nm thick Co3O4 layers showed formate Faradaic efficiency of over 60% in 20 h.

Metallic tin quantum sheets confined in graphene toward high-efficiency carbon dioxide electroreduction

Ultrathin metal layers can be highly active carbon dioxide electroreduction catalysts, but may also be prone to oxidation. Here we construct a model of graphene confined ultrathin layers of highly reactive metals, taking the synthetic highly reactive tin quantum sheets confined in graphene as an example. The higher electrochemical active area ensures 9 times larger carbon dioxide adsorption capacity relative to bulk tin, while the highly-conductive graphene favours rate-determining electron transfer from carbon dioxide to its radical anion. The lowered tin–tin coordination numbers, revealed by X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, enable tin quantum sheets confined in graphene to efficiently stabilize the carbon dioxide radical anion, verified by 0.13 volts lowered potential of hydroxyl ion adsorption compared with bulk tin. Hence, the tin quantum sheets confined in graphene show enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability. This work may provide a promising lead for designing efficient and robust catalysts for electrolytic fuel synthesis.

Aligned Fe2TiO5-containing nanotube arrays with low onset potential for visible-light water oxidation

There remains a pressing challenge in the efficient utilization of visible light in the photoelectrochemical applications of water splitting. Here, we design and fabricate pseudobrookite Fe2TiO5 ultrathin layers grown on vertically aligned TiO2 nanotube arrays that can enhance the conduction and utilization of photogenerated charge carriers. Our photoanodes are characterized by low onset potentials of ~0.2 V, high photon-to-current efficiencies of 40-50% under 400-600 nm irradiation and total energy conversion efficiencies of ~2.7%. The high performance of Fe2TiO5 nanotube arrays can be attributed to the anisotropic charge carrier transportation and elongated charge carrier diffusion length (compared with those of conventional TiO2 or Fe2O3 photoanodes) based on electrochemical impedance analysis and first-principles calculations. The Fe2TiO5 nanotube arrays may open up more opportunities in the design of efficient and low-cost photoanodes working in visible light for photoelectrochemical applications.

Single Unit Cell Bismuth Tungstate Layers Realizing Robust Solar CO2 Reduction to Methanol

Solar CO2 reduction into hydrocarbons helps to solve the global warming and energy crisis. However, conventional semiconductors usually suffer from low photoactivity and poor photostability. Here, atomically-thin oxide-based semiconductors are proposed as excellent platforms to overcome this drawback. As a prototype, single-unit-cell Bi2WO6 layers are first synthesized by virtue of a lamellar Bi-oleate intermediate. The single-unit-cell thickness allows 3-times larger CO2 adsorption capacity and higher photoabsorption than bulk Bi2WO6. Also, the increased conductivity, verified by density functional theory calculations and temperature-dependent resistivities, favors fast carrier transport. The carrier lifetime increased from 14.7 to 83.2 ns, revealed by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, which accounts for the improved electron-hole separation efficacy. As a result, the single-unit-cell Bi2WO6 layers achieve a methanol formation rate of 75 μmol g(-1) h(-1), 125-times higher than that of bulk Bi2WO6. The catalytic activity of the single-unit-cell layers proceeds without deactivation even after 2 days. This work will shed light on designing efficient and robust photoreduction CO2 catalysts.

Atomically Thin Tin Dioxide Sheets for Efficient Catalytic Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide

The thinner the better: SnO2 sheets that are five atomic layers thick are an efficient catalyst for the oxidation of CO. These sheets, which have 40% surface atom occupancy and are fabricated by a scalable ethylenediamine-assisted pathway, show remarkably improved catalytic performances compared to other SnO2 species, with the apparent activation energy lowered to 59.2 kJ mol(-1) and the full-conversion-temperature lowered to 250 °C.