Doping of Vanadium into Bismuth Oxide Nanoparticles for Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction

Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to formate is an effective solution to address the continuous increase in CO 2 in the atmosphere. Here, we report a vanadium-doped (V-doped) bismuth oxide (Bi 2 O 3 ) electrocatalyst synthesized using a facile one-step hydrothermal method for highly efficient electrochemical reduction of CO 2 to formate. The doping of V can tune the intrinsic crystal and electronic structure of Bi 2 O 3, that is, causing partial amorphization in the Bi 2 O 3 nanosheet and decreasing electron density around Bi active sites. The partial amorphous region can provide more reactive sites; meanwhile, the electron-deficient environment around Bi enhances the adsorption of CO 2 . The synergistic crystal and electronic structure modulation in the V-doped Bi 2 O 3 provides excellent electrocatalytic CO 2 RR performance with a high formate selectivity of 94.2% and a high partial current density of 45.03 mA cm –2 at −1.1 V (vs RHE).