Atomically dispersed Ni species on N-doped carbon nanotubes for electroreduction of CO2 with nearly 100% CO selectivity

It is imperative to develop efficient and robust electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) that would overcome the sluggish kinetics and exhibit high current density. Porous carbon nanotubes with highly delocalized electrons and tubular structure are promising candidates for CO 2 RR due to it is favorable for the accessible of substrates to active sites. However, there are rare reports of using carbon nanotubes to stabilize single-atom active sites for CO 2 RR. Herein, a self-sacrificial template method is developed to disperse single atomic Ni sites on N-doped carbon nanotubes from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for highly efficient CO 2 RR. Compared with the corresponding other N-doped carbon stabilized Ni single-atom catalysts, the obtained hierarchically porous Ni/NCTs exhibited enhanced selectivity and activity for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to CO with Faradaic efficiency of 98 %, turnover frequency (TOF) of 9366 h −1 and CO current density of 34.3 mA cm -2 at the applied potential of -1.0 V.