MOF-derived nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes supported CuNi alloy for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO

CuNi alloy nanoparticles loaded on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (CuNi@N-C) were synthesized by using a Cu-Ni binary metal MOF as the precursor and adding melamine as an additional nitrogen source through high-temperature pyrolysis. At -1.0 V vs. RHE, the Faraday efficiency (FE) of CO produced by CuNi@N-C reaches 95.5%, which is much higher than that of Cu@N-C(FE CO : 14.0%) and Ni@N-C(FE CO : 37.0%). In-situ infrared spectra shows that the excellent ECO 2 RR property of CuNi@N-C is attributed to the reconfiguration of the electronic structure of the binary alloy catalyst, which increases the adsorption energy for CO 2 and promotes the desorption of *CO. This study explores and expands new paths for the synthesis of alloy catalysts.