Proceedings of MATSUS Fall 2023 Conference (MATSUSFall23)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsus.2023.034
Publication date: 18th July 2023
The rising share of renewable electricity is testament to the increasing importance of solar/wind-electric routes to harvest sun light in form of potential differences and free electrons. While some electricity is used directly or stored capacitively, an increasing portion calls for direct conversion into valuable molecular solar fuels or chemicals. This “dark” e-conversion is made possible by heterogeneous electrocatalysis on the surface of solid electrodes coupled to mass and charge transport processes. Sustainable materials synthesis pathways coupled to novel advanced characterization techniques result in a deeper understanding of the origin of reaction kinetic barriers and the origin of transport limitations. This is critically needed for the design of more efficient, electrochemical materials, interfaces, and electrodes for practical electrolytic devices for the production of e-fuels and e-chemicals.
In this presentation, I will report on recent advances in our design and molecular understanding of carbon-embedded, N-coordinated single metal atom (MNC) catalyst materials. MNC have long been attracted attention as porphyrin-inspired O2-activating reduction catalysts for hydrogen fuel cell cathodes, yet have recently been proposed by our group as highly efficient and stable CO2 – activating reduction catalysts for use at cathodes of CO2 electrolyzers. I will describe ways to characterize MNC active sites and their reactivity, and will compare and contrast their reactivity and reaction mechanisms compared to metal surfaces.