CO production by AuAg/ZnO catalyst for CO2 valorization

A controllable composition and morphology AuAg/ZnO catalyst, prepared by an easy scalable method, was for the first time explored for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2. An experimental investigation reveals that the products are H2 and CO, which production rate increase in the presence of ZnO, up to 94.7 % of Faradic efficiency at 0.4 V. It was found that the composition of the bimetallic alloy contributes to the overall CO2 reduction performance. In particular, CO production increases decreasing the Au content in the catalyst alloy. To further investigate the catalytic activity, we have studied the electronic properties of the lattices Ag/Au, by density functional theory calculation. In particular, the Fermi level of transition metals is crucial in determining the binding strength between adsorbed species and surface. One can assume that the d-band centre represents the average energy of the d-electrons.