Nature of Oxygen-Containing Groups on Carbon for High-Efficiency Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Reaction

Oxygen-containing groups on carbon materials can induce high catalytic activity for some reactions. Herein, on the basis of a series of metal-free single-layer graphene nanodisks (GNDs) with different surface contents of oxygen-containing groups for highly efficient electrocatalytic reduction reaction of CO2 (CO2RR) to produce formate (HCOO–), we find that the CO2RR catalytic performance is only positively correlated with the surface content of carboxyl groups. While significantly, the density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the observed high CO2RR catalytic activity originates not from the solo carboxyl or other oxygen-containing groups, but from the synergistic effect between carboxyl groups and adjacent other types of groups (namely, hydroxyl, epoxide, and carbonyl) on GNDs. Inspired by such new knowledge, we further find that if the GND catalyst can “alternate work with rest”, its electrocatalytic activity for CO2RR can be regenerated cyclically via a simple electro-oxidation method to regenerate the surface carboxyl groups, achieving a remarkable long-term durability for CO2RR. Such work deepens our understanding of the role of oxygen-containing groups in catalysis and provides a new strategy for the design and synthesis of high-performance metal-free carbon-based catalysts.