Dopant Engineering in Perovskite Cathodes for Efficient CO₂ Electrolysis

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR), powered by advanced technologies such as solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC), is a promising method to convert CO₂ into valuable carbon-based products using renewable electricity. The high chemical stability of CO₂ requires catalysts to exhibit both high activity and stable electrocatalytic performance. However, catalysts that deliver high performance in CO₂RR are rare and still require further improvement. Here, we report a strategy that can efficiently enhance catalyst activity through Zn doping, which introduces active frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP) to improve the catalyst's ability to activate small molecules. A high current density of −1.85 A cm⁻² at 800 ℃ under a bias voltage of 1.5 V was achieved using the Sr₂Fe_0.8Zn_0.2MoO_6-δ (SFZn_0.2M) cathode with pure CO₂ feeding gas, surpassing previously reported results for perovskite oxide cathodes. This SOEC device also demonstrates excellent stability, with negligible degradation over tests lasting up to 110 h.