Earth-Abundant Transition Metal Single Atom Electrocatalysts for Selective CO2 Reduction in Water

The development of highly selective and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction is becoming increasingly important for renewable energy applications. The challenge here is the strong competition from water reduction, as well as the low selectivity towards a desired product. In this talk I will introduce the rational tuning of electronic properties of catalytic materials for their significantly improved CO₂ reduction performance. By dispersing transition metals into isolated single atoms with electronic structures significantly different from their bulk counterparts, we can dramatically suppress the competing hydrogen evolution and deliver an ultra-high CO₂ reduction selectivity of more than 95% under ambient conditions in water.