Highly crystalline Cu3Sn alloy nanoparticles for enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

Highly crystalline Cu–Sn alloy nanoparticles are prepared by CVD. • Tuned Cu:Sn ratio yields Cu 3 Sn and Sn/CuSn catalysts. • Cu 3 Sn shows high FE for HCOOH (75.5%) and CO (12.06%). • In situ Raman and DFT reveal CO 2 RR pathway and synergistic effects. The development of catalysts for the selective electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) has attracted increasing interest. In particular, Cu-based alloy catalysts, known for their superior stability and high catalytic activity, show great potential for CO 2 RR. Therefore, in this work, we prepared highly crystalline Cu–Sn alloys nanoparticles using a simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. By controlling the Cu:Sn ratio, highly crystalline Cu 3 Sn and Sn-coated CuSn (Sn/CuSn) catalysts were obtained. Cu 3 Sn preferentially grows along the (210) facet, making the atomic distribution of Cu and Sn on this dominant surface play a crucial role in CO 2 RR performance. Owing to the synergistic effect between Cu and Sn, Cu 3 Sn exhibits high Faradaic efficiency (FE) for HCOOH (75.5%) and CO (12.06%) as compared to Sn/CuSn. Furthermore, the CO 2 RR evolution path and synergistic effects were revealed through in situ Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, respectively. This work demonstrates the synthesis of highly crystalline Cu 3 Sn alloy nanoparticles and provides insights into the relationship between ordered Cu–Sn structures and CO 2 RR performance. Highly crystalline Cu 3 Sn nanoparticle catalyst was prepared using a combination of magnetron sputtering and chemical vapor deposition techniques. This catalyst features unique Cu and Sn active sites than enhance electrocatalytic performance through synergistic effects, enabling efficient CO 2 reduction to HCOOH and CO. Download: Download high-res image (211KB) Download: Download full-size image