@article{Fan2023, author = {Qikui Fan and Pengfei Gao and Shan Ren and Yunteng Qu and Chuncai Kong and Jian Yang and Yuen Wu}, title = {Total conversion of centimeter-scale nickel foam into single atom electrocatalysts with highly selective CO2 electrocatalytic reduction in neutral electrolyte}, year = {2023}, journal = {Nano Research}, volume = {16}, number = {2}, pages = {2003-2010}, keywords = {thermal diffusion, Ni single atom electrocatalyst, neutral electrolyte, CO2 electroreduction to CO}, url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-022-4472-6}, doi = {10.1007/s12274-022-4472-6}, abstract = {To improve the atomic utilization of metals and reduce the cost of industrialization, the one-step total monoatomization of macroscopic bulk metals, as opposed to nanoscale metals, is effective. In this study, we used a thermal diffusion method to directly convert commercial centimeter-scale Ni foam to porous Ni single-atom-loaded carbon nanotubes (CNTs). As expected, owing to the coating of single-atom on porous, highly conductive CNT carriers, Ni single-atom electrocatalysts (Ni-SACs) exhibit extremely high activity and selectivity in CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR), yielding a current density of > 350 mA/cm2, a selectivity for CO of > 91% under a flow cell configuration using a 1 M potassium chloride (KCl) electrolyte. Based on the superior activity of the Ni-SACs electrocatalyst, an integrated gas-phase electrochemical zero-gap reactor was introduced to generate a significant amount of CO current for potential practical applications. The overall current can be increased to 800 mA, while maintaining CO Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) at above 90% per unit cell. Our findings and insights on the active site transformation mechanism for macroscopic bulk Ni foam conversion into single atoms can inform the design of highly active single-atom catalysts used in industrial CO2RR systems.} }