Cooperative Copper Single Atom Catalyst in Two‐dimensional Carbon Nitride for Enhanced CO₂ Electrolysis to Methane

Abstract

Renewable electricity powered carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction (eCO₂R) to high‐value fuels like methane (CH₄) holds the potential to close the carbon cycle at meaningful scales. However, this kinetically staggered 8‐electron multistep reduction still suffers from inadequate catalytic efficiency and current density. Atomic Cu‐structures can boost eCO₂R‐to‐CH₄ selectivity due to enhanced intermediate binding energies (BEs) resulting from favorably shifted d‐band centers. Herein, we exploit two‐dimensional carbon nitride (CN) matrices, viz. Na‐polyheptazine (PHI) and Li‐polytriazine imides (PTI), to host Cu‐N₂ type single atom sites with high density (∼1.5 at%), via a facile metal ion exchange process. Optimized Cu loading in nanocrystalline Cu‐PTI maximizes eCO₂R‐to‐CH₄ performance with Faradaic efficiency (FE_CH4) of ≈68% and a high partial current density of 348 mA cm⁻² at a low potential of ‐0.84 V versus RHE, surpassing the state‐of‐the‐art catalysts. Multi‐Cu substituted N‐appended nanopores in the CN frameworks yield thermodynamically stable quasi‐dual/triple sites with large interatomic distances dictated by the pore dimensions. First‐principles calculations elucidate the relative Cu‐CN cooperative effects between the two matrices and how the Cu‐Cu distance and local environment dictate the adsorbate BEs, density of states, and CO₂‐to‐CH₄ energy profile landscape. The 9N pores in Cu‐PTI yield cooperative Cu‐Cu sites that synergistically enhance the kinetics of the rate‐limiting steps in the eCO₂R‐to‐CH₄ pathway.

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