Synergistic oxygen vacancy and Zn-doping on SnO2 nanosheets for enhanced electrochemical CO2 conversion

Defects engineering is one of the effective strategies to advance the CO 2 conversion into value-added chemicals and fuels during the electrochemical process. It is noteworthy that multiple defects are often associated in the reaction process, hence how to stimulate their synergistic effect is extremely important, but still lacks in-depth understanding. Herein, SnO 2 nanosheets with simultaneous oxygen vacancies and Zn dopants (Zn–Vo–SnO 2 ), as a proof-of-concept study, were proposed to elucidate the synergistic effect of multiple defects on enhanced CO 2 -to-C 1 conversion. Zn–Vo–SnO 2 , which is prepared by coupling a facile hydrothermal reaction and a subsequent desulfurization, yields the C 1 products at the lower applied potential, and maintains the FE C1 of about 95% at −0.80 V vs. RHE for a long-term operation. Evidences from systematic experiment and theoretical calculation corroborate that the charge redistribution caused by the oxygen vacancies and Zn-doping synergistically energize the CO 2 conversion, in the term of the CO 2 adsorption, the hydrogenation of CO 2 and intermediates, and the thermodynamic energies of the rate-determining steps. This study has an insight into defect engineering to design advanced electrocatalysts for implementable CO 2 recycling and utilization.