Implanting MWCNTs in BiCu-MOFs to enhance electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to formate

The production of value-added chemical products or fuels through electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) is a promising strategy for reducing CO2 emissions and promoting energy storage. Herein, a novel BiCu bimetallic organic framework composite catalyst ([email protected]) was successfully designed and fabricated using in-situ modification with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for the efficient synthesis of formate via ECR. In a flow cell, [email protected] showed a small onset potential of − 0.46 VRHE and partial current densities in excess of 100 mA cm−2. What's more, the Faraday efficiency was close to 100 % for formate at − 0.86 VRHE. The results show that MWCNTs facilitate rapid electron transfer. Density functional theory calculations showed that Bi was the active center of ECR. The introduction of Cu optimized the overall electronic structure, thereby effectively improving the efficiency of the ECR. This work provides novel ideas for the development of bimetallic meta-organic frameworks (MOFs) with efficient ECR.