Enhancing the effect of metal–nitrogen–carbon nanotubes with cobalt phthalocyanine on the electrochemical reduction of CO2†

Transition metal/nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts (M–N–C) show superior catalytic activity in electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction due to their high atomic efficiency. In this work, a series of electrocatalysts with cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) highly dispersed on M–N–C were prepared. Compared to the pure M–N–C materials, all CoPc/M–N–C catalysts showed a significantly enhanced activity for CO₂ reduction and suppressed hydrogen evolution reaction. Among these catalysts, CoPc/Fe–N–C exhibits an outstanding activity and selectivity for CO₂ reduction with 99% faradaic efficiency for CO at a potential of −0.48 V vs. RHE. Obviously, such a composite strategy is considered as one of the effective methods to improve the selectivity of CO₂ to CO.