Structural Sensitivities in Bimetallic Catalysts for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Revealed by Ag-Cu Nanodimers

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jacs.8b12381

Understanding the structural and compositional sensitivities of the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is fundamentally important for developing highly efficient and selective electrocatalysts. Here, we use Ag/Cu nanocrystals to uncover the key role played by the Ag/Cu interface in promoting CO₂RR. Nanodimers including the two constituent metals as segregated domains sharing a tunable interface are obtained by developing a seeded growth synthesis, wherein preformed Ag nanoparticles are used as nucleation seeds for the Cu domain. We find that the type of metal precursor and the strength of the reducing agent play a key role in achieving the desired chemical and structural control. We show that tandem catalysis and electronic effects, both enabled by the addition of Ag to Cu in the form of segregated nanodomain within the same catalyst, synergistically account for an enhancement in the Faradaic efficiency for C₂H₄ by 3.4-fold and in the partial current density for CO₂ reduction by 2-fold compared with the pure Cu counterpart. The insights gained from this work may be beneficial for designing efficient multicomponent catalysts for electrochemical CO₂ reduction.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/jacs.8b12381

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Article
Structural Sensitivities in Bimetallic Catalysts for
Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Revealed by Ag-Cu Nanodimers
Jianfeng Huang, Mounir Mensi, Emad Oveisi, Valeria Mantella, and Raffaella Buonsanti
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b12381 • Publication Date (Web): 18 Jan 2019
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Structural Sensitivities in Bimetallic Catalysts for
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Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Revealed by Ag-Cu Nanodimers
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Jianfeng Huang,† Mounir Mensi,‡ Emad Oveisi,§ Valeria Mantella,† Raffaella Buonsanti*†
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†
‡
Laboratory of Nanochemistry for Energy (LNCE), Institute of Chemical Sciences and
Engineering (ISIC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland.
Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne, CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland.
§ Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,
CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
*Correspondence to: raffaella.buonsanti@epfl.ch
ABSTRACT
Understanding the structural and compositional sensitivities of the electrochemical CO2
reduction reaction (CO2RR) is fundamentally important for developing highly efficient and
selective electrocatalysts. Here, we use Ag/Cu nanocrystals to uncover the key role played by
the Ag/Cu interface in promoting CO2RR. Nanodimers including the two constituent metals as
segregated domains sharing a tunable interface are obtained by developing a seeded growth
synthesis, wherein pre-formed Ag nanoparticles are used as nucleation seeds for the Cu domain.
We find that the type of metal precursor and the strength of the reducing agent play a key role
in achieving the desired chemical and structural control. We show that tandem catalysis and
electronic effects, both enabled by the addition of Ag to Cu in the form of segregated
nanodomain within the same catalyst, synergistically account for an enhancement in the
Faradaic efficiency for C2H4 by 3.4-fold and in the partial current density for CO2 reduction by
2-fold compared with the pure Cu counterpart. The insights gained from this work may be
beneficial for designing efficient multicomponent catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction.
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INTRODUCTION
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Electrochemical CO2 reduction is an emerging research area due to its potential of
converting greenhouse gas CO2 into useful feedstocks and fuels while storing intermittent
renewable energy.1-2 Among the various CO2 reduction products, C≥2 hydrocarbons (e.g., C2H4,
C2H5OH) have attracted much attention because of their higher energy densities compared with
C1 products (e.g., CO, formate, CH4).3-4 While high conversion efficiencies have been achieved
via device engineering,5 more fundamental understanding is required for rationally designing
CO2 reduction catalysts with enhanced intrinsic activity and selectivity.
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Cu is the most promising monometallic catalyst for electroreducing CO2 to multicarbon
products, albeit it does not possess optimal levels of activity and selectivity.6 A surge of interest
has therefore appeared in modifying Cu catalysts via judiciously manipulating its
physicochemical properties,7 such as sizes,8 shapes,9-13 chemical states,14-17 grain boundaries,18
stabilities,19-20 to gain insights into the effect of these parameters on the catalytic behavior and
thereby ideally to improve the catalyst performance. More recently, the addition of a second
metal to Cu was suggested as another useful means to tune the Cu selectivity and reactivity
through tailoring the binding strength and/or binding configuration of intermediates on the
catalytic surfaces.21-29 Enhancements in the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR)
have been observed on various Cu-based alloys, including enhanced production of CO on
CuAu,21-22 CH4 on CuPd,23 and C2H5OH on CuZn.24 Ag has been shown to substantially
activate Cu towards the formation of multicarbon products by mechanisms of either tandem
catalysis, in the case of macroscopically phase segregated domains, or strain induced
suppression of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), in the case of surface alloys.25-28
The results obtained from Cu-based bimetallic catalysts evidence that neighboring Cu atom
ensembles are pivotal to the C-C coupling that is the key step to C≥2 products.29 However, to
date, most of the aforementioned bimetallic catalysts have been limited to alloys or to systems
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without either adequate preservation of Cu ensembles or control on the ensemble size. Thus, it
can be anticipated that the study of metallic nanodimers that combine the incorporation of a
second metal while preserving the Cu ensemble would be highly relevant to CO2RR and
particularly beneficial to the fundamental understanding of the conversion of CO2 to C2
products.
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Having this in mind, the challenge becomes the synthesis of such structures. Indeed, while
the ability to tailor make bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) in a wide range of compositions and
geometries is of the uttermost importance to tune their optical and catalytic properties, their
synthesis in a controlled fashion is still challenging because of the lack of design principles
which allow to access the desired structures in a predictive manner.30-37
Here, we synthesize Ag-Cu nanodimers (NDs) with tunable domain size by developing a
seeded-growth approach through colloidal chemistry, wherein pre-synthesized Ag NPs act as
nucleation seeds for the growth of the Cu domain. We find the rational selection of the metal
precursor and the reducing agent to be particularly crucial to attain the metallic NDs and their
relative counterparts, i.e. Cu NPs and Ag NPs, in a controlled fashion. As a result of the
synthetic tunability, we are able to reveal the role of the segregated Ag and Cu nanodomains
and of their shared interface in promoting C2 products in Ag-Cu NDs, together leading to a 3.4-
time enhancement in the Faradaic efficiency (FE) for C2H4 and to a 2-time in the CO2RR partial
current density in comparison with the Cu NPs counterpart. The enhancement is the result of
tandem catalysis and electronic effect, both induced by the coupling of nanoscale segregated
Ag and Cu domains through an interfacial region. The fundamental insights gained from the
structure/property relationships will facilitate defining the design principles for superior
CO2RR catalysts including multiple components which is the direction to take to break the
existing scaling relationships.38
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EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
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Chemicals. Copper(II) acetate monohydrate (Cu(OAc)2·H2O, 99.0%), copper(I) acetate
(CuOAc, 97%), silver trifluoroacetate (CF3COOAg, 99.99%), D-(+)-glucose, (99.5%),
hexadecylamine (HDA, 90%), L-Ascorbic acid (99%), sodium ascorbate (99%), toluene
(anhydrous, 99.8%), potassium carbonate (K2CO3, 99%) and Nafion (5wt.%) were purchased
from Sigma. Silver nitrate (AgNO3, 99.9995%) was bought from ABCR. Isopropanol (99.5%
anhydrous) was obtained from Fluorochem. All chemicals were used as received without
further purification. All aqueous solutions were prepared using deionized (DI) water with a
resistivity of 18.2 MΩ·cm.
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Materials Synthesis. Ag NPs Synthesis. Ag NPs were synthesized by sequentially adding
0.045 g HDA, 3.43 mL H2O, 1.2 mL AgNO3 (100 mM) and 0.37 mL glucose (1 M) into a 40-
mL vial at room temperature. After being magnetically stirred for 5 h, the mixture was heated
in an oil bath at 100 °C for 1 h. The vial was then removed from the oil and cooled naturally.
The particles were washed with water by centrifugation two times (13300 rpm, 10 min), and
then either dried in vacuum and re-dispersed in toluene for CO2RR or directly re-dispersed in
H2O (9 mL) for seeding growth of Ag-Cu NDs.
Cu NPs Synthesis. Cu NPs were synthesized by sequentially adding 0.15 g HDA, 4.55 mL
H2O, and 0.075 mL Cu(OAc)2 (100 mM) into a 40-mL vial at room temperature. After the
mixture was magnetically stirred for 12 h, 0.3 mL ascorbic acid (1 M) was added under stirring,
and the resulting mixture was heated in an oil bath at 150 °C for 1h. The vial was then removed
from the oil and cooled naturally. The particles were washed with water and collected by
centrifugation two times (13300 rpm, 10 min), then dried in vacuum and re-dispersed in toluene
for CO2RR.
Ag-Cu NDs Synthesis. Ag-Cu NDs were synthesized using a seed-mediated method. Three
different NDs with varied mass ratios of Cu to Ag, i.e., Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs, Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs, Ag1-
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Cu3.2 NDs, corresponding to Cu mass percentage of 28.6%, 52.4% and 76.2%, respectively,
were achieved by adjusting the amount of the above-synthesized Ag NPs that were used as
seeds and the reaction time. Specifically, 0.3 g HDA, 0.3 mL Cu(OAc)2 (100 mM), 8.9 mL
H2O and a specific amount of Ag NPs in H2O (Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs: 200 µL; Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs: 200
µL; Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs: 400 µL) were sequentially added into a 40-mL glass vial. The resulting
mixtures were kept stirred for 5 h, followed with an addition of 0.6 mL ascorbic acid (1 M)
under stirring. Finally, the vials were placed in an oil bath of 150 °C for a certain period of
heating time (Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs: 20 min; Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs: 12.5 min; Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs: 8 min). After
being washed with water and collected by centrifugation two times (13300 rpm, 10 min), the
particles were then dried in vacuum and re-dispersed in toluene for CO2RR.
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Preparation of the Ag+Cu Mixtures. Ag+Cu Mixtures were prepared by physically mixing
a specific amount of the above-synthesized Ag NPs and Cu NPs. The ratio of Cu to Ag was
determined so to be the same as that in Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs.
Characterization. Electron Microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images
were acquired on a FEI Tecnai-Spirit at 120 kV. High-resolution TEM (HR-TEM), high-angle
annular dark-field scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM) images and X-ray energy dispersive (EDX)
elemental maps were acquired on a FEI Tecnai-Osiris at 200 kV. High-resolution HAADF-
STEM images were taken on a double Cs-corrected FEI Titan Themis 60-300 operated at 300
kV. Samples were prepared by dropping toluene solution containing the nanoparticles on the
surface of carbon-coated gold grids (Ted Pella, Inc.).
UV-vis Spectroscopy. UV-vis extinctions were performed in transmission mode using a
Perkin Elmer Lambda 950 Spectrophotometer equipped with deuterium lamp as a light source
for ultraviolet and tungsten halide lamp as a light source visible and infrared range, and a PMT
with peltier-controlled PbS detector. Samples were prepared by dispersing nanoparticles in DI
H2O.
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X-ray Diffractometry (XRD). XRD measurements were conducted on a BRUKER D8
Advance instrument with Cu Kα radiation equipped with Bruker LynxEye one-dimensional
energy dispersive detector. Samples were prepared by drop-casting nanoparticles on low
background silicon holders.
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X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). XPS data were collected on a PHI VersaProbe II
scanning XPS microprobe (Physical Instruments AG, Germany) with a monochromatic Al-Kα
X-ray source operating at 24.8 W under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Particle film samples
were prepared by drop-casting nanoparticles on silicon substrates.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). ICP-OES was
performed on Agilent 5100 model to determine the Cu and Ag concentration. 5 standard
solutions of Cu and Ag were prepared to obtain the calibration curve used to determine the
concentrations of the digested nanocrystal solution. The sample solution was prepared by
dissolving the nanocrystals in 70% HNO3 followed with the addition of a specific amount of
DI water until the solution reaches the 2% acid content needed for the analysis.
Electrocatalytic Measurements. Electrode Preparation. Glassy carbon plates (2.5 cm ×
2.5 cm, Type 2, Alfa Aesar) loaded with electrocatalysts served as the working electrode.
Before loading electrocatalysts, glassy carbons were typically polished using 1 µm diamond,
followed by a rinse with Milli-Q water, ultrasonication in acetone for 5 min and in hexane for
5 min, and blowing dry with N2. Typically, working electrodes (cathode electrodes) were
prepared by evaporating catalyst inks within a circular area of 1.5 cm2 on the glassy carbon
plates. Catalyst inks were prepared by thoroughly mixing nanoparticles (15 µg) in toluene (25
µL) with Nafion/isopropanol mixture (volume ratio: 1:1, 15 µL). Before measurements, the
electrodes were stored in a N2 glove box. Platinum foil and Ag/AgCl electrode (leak free series,
Innovative Instruments, Inc.) were used as the counter electrode and reference electrode,
respectively.
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CO2 Electrolysis. Electrocatalytic measurements were performed with a potentiostat
(Biologic SP-300) in a custom-built gas-tight three electrode cell. A Selemion anion exchange
membrane was used to separate the anodic and cathodic compartments. Each compartment was
filled with a CO2-satureated KHCO3 solution (2 mL, 0.1 M) as an electrolyte. Such a KHCO3
solution was prepared by bubbling a freshly prepared K2CO3 solution (0.05 M) with CO2 for
30 min. The working electrodes were held for 1 h at different constant biases (–0.9 V, –1.0 V,
–1.1 V, –1.2 V, –1.3 V, –1.4 V vs Reversible Hydrogen Electrode (RHE)) using
chronoamperometry. The solution resistance was determined and compensated using the in-
built MIR function of the potentiostat, compensating for 85% of the resistance.
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Product Analysis. For gas product analysis, a gas chromatograph (GC, SRI instruments)
equipped with a HayeSep D porous polymer column, thermal conductivity detector, and flame
ionization detector was used. Ultra-high purity N2 (99.999%) was used as a carrier gas. The
concentration of gaseous products was determined using calibration curves from standard gases.
For liquid product analysis, a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on an UltiMate
3000 instrument from Thermo Scientific was used. During electrolysis, CO2 was constantly
bubbled through the electrolyte to prevent depletion of CO2 in the electrolyte and to allow
continuous analysis of gaseous products via a GC. The CO2 flow was controlled by a mass
flow controller (Bronkhorst) and the flow rate was 5.5 sccm, measured from the exhaust of GC
using a flowmeter (Ellutia, 7000 Flowmeter). During electrolysis, the CO2 with gaseous
products was allowed to flow directly into the gas sampling loop of the GC for online gaseous
product analysis, which took 10.5 min for each run of analysis. The liquid products were
collected from the electrolyte after electrolysis and analyzed by the HPLC. Calculations of FE
for gaseous products and liquid products are presented in the supporting information (SI).
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
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Figure 1. (a) Schematic and (b-g) TEM characterization of the three types of Ag/Cu
nanocrystals: TEM and HRTEM images of Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs (b, e), Ag NPs (c, f), Cu NPs (d, g).
The synthesis of the Ag-Cu NDs was achieved by the seeded-growth approach wherein pre-
formed ~ 25 nm Ag NPs were used as nucleation seeds for the Cu domains. This technique was
chosen for the synthesis because of the demonstrated capability to afford superior
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compositional and morphological tunability.37,
Briefly, the ligand (HDA), the metal
precursor (Cu(OAc)2), the solvent (H2O) and the seeds (Ag NPs) were sequentially added into
a glass vial. After the mixture was stirred for 5 h, the reducing agent (ascorbic acid) was added
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under stirring. Finally, the vial was placed in an oil bath of 150 °C for a certain period of time
depending on the domain size (details in the Experimental Section).
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Figure 1 and 2 report the complete characterization of the synthesized Ag/Cu nanocrystals
by various electron microscopy techniques, UV-vis extinction spectra and XRD. From TEM
of the Ag-Cu NDs (Figure 1b), uniform calabash-like nanostructures are observed with two
discrete spherical domains of distinct contrasts. Each domain is within the size range of 25-30
nm. HRTEM image (Figure 1e) shows a clear interface between the two domains, which are
both multiply-twinned.40 HAADF-STEM (Figure 2a), which is sensitive to the atomic number
of the specimen, confirms the presence of two domains containing different elements (i.e., Ag
appears brighter than Cu), in the same nanocrystal. The corresponding EDX maps reveals a
segregated distribution of Ag and Cu, suggesting that the higher- and lower-contrast domains
are comprised of Ag and Cu, respectively. ICP-OES reports the mass ratio of Cu to Ag to be
1.1, consistent with the similar size of the two domains. This dimer is hereafter denoted as Ag1-
Cu1.1 NDs. As control samples, spherical Ag NPs (Figure 1c, f and Figure 2b) and Cu NPs
(Figure 1d, g and Figure 2c) that have a similar size (25-30 nm) to the domains in the Ag1-
Cu1.1 NDs and contain multiple nanotwins (crystallite size around 10-15 nm) were also
successfully produced, as demonstrated by the same electron microscopy techniques (TEM,
STEM, EDX) as those applied for Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs. Consistent with the insights from the
electron microscopy, the XRD pattern (Figure 2d) of the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs show two distinct sets
of diffraction peaks arising from the fcc structure of Ag and Cu, indicative of the formation of
segregated pure metallic Cu and Ag phase in the dimer nanocrystals and discarding the idea of
a AgCu alloy. Furthermore, the crystallite size for Cu and of Ag is found to be ~15 nm and ~12
nm, respectively, consistent with the TEM observation that the particles are multiply-twinned.
The unique structural features of the NDs are reflected in their optical properties as well. As
shown in the UV-visible spectra (Figure 2e), the bimetallic Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs exhibit two peaks
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at ~ 403 nm and ~ 580 nm, which blue-shifts by ~11 nm and red-shifts by ~ 7 nm with respect
to the single characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak of monometallic Ag NPs (~
414 nm) and Cu NPs (~ 573 nm), respectively. Since the size and shape of Ag nanoparticles
remain unchanged during the seeded-growth of Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs, the blue shift of the SPR peak
experienced by the Ag domains might indicate a charge transfer between Cu domains and Ag
domains, as will further be discussed later. All together the characterization results in Figures
1 and 2 confirm that we successfully synthesized monodispersed Ag/Cu nanocrystals with a
tunable structure between the bimetallic Ag-Cu NDs and the monometallic Cu NPs and Ag
NPs.
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Such an exquisite manipulation of the nanocrystal synthesis was not trivial. Previously, Ag-
Cu NDs were synthesized using one-pot synthesis method.41 However, the method yielded
large dimers (> 100 nm) of varied sizes and shapes; also it was unsuccessful to produce NP
counterparts of similar physicochemical properties as reference materials. More recently,
galvanic exchange between Cu NPs and Ag salts has been employed to synthesize Ag-Cu
nanocrescents.42 Nevertheless, as the Ag nanocrescents grow, the Cu NPs tend to be
encapsulated in Ag shells to form a core-shell structure. By contrast, the seeded-growth method
employed in this work, being based on the overgrowth of Cu on pre-synthesized Ag NPs, has
the great advantages in controlling both the size and structure of the dimer particles. A fine
tuning and optimization of the synthetic parameters, including the reducing agent, reaction
temperature and time, metal precursors, amount of ligands (Figures S1-S3), was necessary to
attain the desired structures. Particularly, we found ascorbic acid to be the reducing agent with
an adequate reducing power. Weaker reducing agents, such as glucose, were unable to reduce
CuII ions completely, which resulted in the formation of big Cu2O particles. Increasing the
oxidizing ability of Cu precursor by using copper(I) acetate (CuOAc) still produced similar
large Cu2O particles. Elevating the temperature was not used to enhance the reducing power of
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the glucose, as higher temperature than 150 °C often caused a breakage of the vial cap. Stronger
reducing agents, such as sodium ascorbate, by contrast, induced a fast nucleation and as a result
generated very small particles. In addition, it is noteworthy that the utilization of Cu(OAc)2,
instead of CuCl2 which was commonly used in the literature,41, 43-44 as the Cu precursor, is
essential for a successful seeded growth involving Ag NPs as seeds, because the anion Cl¯
would etch Ag NPs in the presence of oxygen particularly at high temperature.
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Figure 2. (a-c) HAADF-STEM images of Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs (a), Ag NPs (b), Cu NPs (c), and
corresponding EDX elemental maps of Cu (orange) and Ag (yellow). (d, e) XRD patterns (d)
and UV-vis spectra (e) of the three types of Ag/Cu nanocrystals.
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Figure 3. (a-c) FEs for each gaseous product (i.e., H2, CO, CH4, C2H4) and for the main liquid
product (i.e., formate) over (a) Ag NPs, (b) Cu NPs, and (c) Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs. Some other minor
liquid products (e.g., acetate, ethylene glycol, ethanol and 1-propanol) with FE < 5% were also
produced, as reported in Figure S4. (d, e) Total current density (d) and partial current density
for the electroreduction of CO2 (e) (normalized by the electrochemically active surface area,
ECSA) over Ag NPs, Cu NPs and Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs. (f) CO and C2H4 mass activity of Ag NPs,
Cu NPs and Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs at -1.1 V vs RHE. The mass activity is based on the overall mass
of Ag and Cu. The error bars show standard deviations from at least three independent
measurements.
The catalytic activity of nanoparticles is highly dependent on their physicochemical
attributes, such as the size, shape, crystalline structure, surface chemistry.45-46 To identify the
effect arising solely from changes in the structure, it is important to maintain other parameters
identical. Because of the success to obtain all the Ag/Cu nanocatalysts in a similar reaction
environment involving the same binding ligands, we sought to investigate how the unique
dimer structure promotes the CO2RR. In addition to the electrocatalyst itself, the catalytic
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performance in CO2RR are highly susceptible to the operating conditions, such as the
composition of the electrolyte and the electrochemical cell design.47 For example, the use of
gas-diffusion layer in the cell and high concentration of KOH as the electrolyte usually give
rise to extremely high current densities up to 750 mA cm-2,5 which, however, might impose
limited mass transport and thereby masks the intrinsic activity of the electrocatalysts. In this
work, we therefore adopted a reported design of liquid cell with adequate mixing of a 0.1 M
KHCO3 electrolyte and flat glassy carbon as catalyst support, which yield relatively low
geometric current densities.48 Moreover, we preferred to skip any thermal or chemical
treatment for ligand removal to avoid changes to the intrinsic structure.49 Since the same
ligands functionalize the surface of of the Ag and of the Cu in the NPs and in the NDs, we do
not expect them to confer different catalytic behaviour to the studied samples.
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We first examined the FE for each product, the results of which are presented in Figure
3a-c and Figure S4. For pure Ag NPs, the CO2RR product are CO and formate, and the FE for
CO reaches a maximum of 50-60% in the potential range of - 0.9 V – -1.1 V (Figure 3a). Using
Cu NPs as the electrocatalyst increases the number of products and generates more reduced
products, such as CH4, C2H4, etc., at the expense of CO. The highest FE for C2H4 is around
12% achieved at -1.1 V (Figure 3b). These results are consistent with previous reports on pure
Cu NPs and Ag NPs.12, 50-51 Interestingly, when Ag NPs and Cu NPs are combined together in
the form of nanodimers, CO is significantly suppressed when compared with Ag NPs, while
C2H4 is drastically boosted in comparison with Cu NPs at -1.1 V (Figure 3c). Such an enhanced
FE of ~ 40% for C2H4 obtained from the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs corresponds to a 3.4-fold enhancement
over that from Cu NPs, and is even comparable with the performance of state-of-the-art Cu
nanocubes wherein the presence of (100) facets drives the selectivity.12
We also assessed the catalytic activity of the three types of nanocrystals under identical
reaction conditions through the current densities normalized by the electrochemically active
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surface area (ECSA, Figure S5). As shown in Figure 3d, Ag NPs exhibit lower overall activity
than Cu NPs. In stark contrast, when Ag is combined with Cu in the form of Ag-Cu NDs, the
activity is significantly enhanced over either single component. However, as the overall current
density includes also the current contribution from HER, we decomposed it into individual
partial current density for H2 and CO2RR products separately, to determine which catalyst
performs better for CO2RR. The results were reported in Figure 3e, and interestingly, a similar
trend was observed for CO2RR activity, suggesting that the observed increase in overall activity
is contributed by the increased CO2RR activity. As an example, the partial current density at -
1.1 V for Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs is also 2 times higher than that for Cu NPs. In addition, the Ag1-Cu1.1
NDs also exhibit a 4.2-fold higher C2H4 mass activity than Cu NPs (Figure 3f). The mass
activity reported in Figure 3f has some interesting implications which will be discussed later.
Taken together, these results conclude that Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs, when compared with their
constituent counterparts, not only enhance the activity towards CO2RR, but also improve the
selectivity for the C2H4 product.
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Figure 4. (a-c) Schematic, TEM images, and HAADF-STEM images and combined EDX
elemental maps of Cu (orange) and Ag (yellow) of three kinds of Ag-Cu NDs: (a) Ag1-Cu0.4
NDs, (b) Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs, and (c) Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs.
Such a pronounced enhancement in both the selectivity and activity achieved simply by the
dimerization of Ag NPs with Cu NPs motivates us to seek out the mechanism by which Ag
increases the performance of CO2RR when interfaced with Cu at the nanoscale. In order to do
so, we synthesized NDs with variable size of the Cu domains so to control the extension of the
interfacial region (Figure 4). We prepared two kinds of dimers, one with smaller Cu size and
thus smaller interfacial area (i.e., Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs: Figure 4a) and one with bigger Cu size and
thus larger interfacial area (i.e., Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs: Figure 4c) compared to the original Ag1-Cu1.1
NDs (Figure 4b).
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Figure 5. FE for C2H4 obtained on different Ag/Cu nanocrystals, including Ag NPs, Cu NPs,
Ag+Cu Mixture, Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs, Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs and Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs at -1.1 V vs RHE. The
error bars show standard deviations from at least three independent measurements. The full set
of electrochemical data, including product distribution, total current density, partial current
density for the CO2RR, and CO and C2H4 mass activity at different potentials, is reported in
Figure S6.
As suggested by earlier studies, adsorbed CO is a crucial intermediate for the formation of
C2H4.52-56 Ag is well known to generate more CO than Cu at a given potential and this is
consistent with our results. Therefore, one possibility is that in the NDs the Ag domain supplies
a high flux of CO to the adjacent Cu domain, which sequentially transforms CO into C2H4 (i.e.,
tandem catalysis).25, 57-58 To test this hypothesis, we performed one control experiment in which
a physical mixture of Ag NPs and Cu NPs (i.e., Ag+Cu Mixture) was employed as the
electrocatalyst. A ~ 1.5-fold FE in the FE for C2H4 was observed over that of Cu NPs (Figure
5), which validates the contribution of Ag to promoting the formation of C2H4 through CO
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tandem reaction, yet it does not account for the full improvement. We also verified that the
additional enhancement observed for the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs when compared with the Ag+Cu
Mixture is not caused by the Cu domains and Ag domains being in closer proximity to each
other, as increasing the areal particle density did not lead to a noticeable increase in the FE for
C2H4 (Figure S7). In addition, when analyzing the CO and C2H4 mass activity of the Ag/Cu
nanocrystals (Figure 3f), while the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs exhibited much higher production rate of
C2H4 than Cu NPs, they still showed a comparable CO production rate, further confirming that
the tandem transformation of CO is not the only mechanism behind the C2H4 enhancement.
When testing the NDs with different interfacial areas reported in Figure 4, a non-monotonic
trend was found with the highest FE for C2H4 being achieved over the dimers of similar domain
size (i.e., Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs). In the Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs, the combination of a less extended interface
and of the smaller Cu domain is accompanied by a reduced ethylene and more predominant
CO production (Figure 5 and Figure S8 for other products). The Ag1-Cu3.2 NDs exhibit a
substantial ethylene formation, yet not as high as expected based on the extended interfacial
area. Rationally designed control experiments evidenced that this behavior is not related to a
reduced contribution of the tandem effect due to the Ag domain being smaller than the Cu
domain (Figure S9). Overall, the results reported in Figure 5 confirm the importance of the
interface in dictating the FE for C2H4 but also suggest the existence of a delicate balance
between the tandem effect and the extension of the interface.
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Figure 6. (a) High-resolution HAADF-STEM of the interface, including FFTs. (b) UV-vis
spectra and (c) XPS spectra of Ag/Cu nanocrystals.
Previously, HER suppression due to compressive strain induced by surface alloying Ag with
Cu has been hypothesized to account for the enhanced selectivity for multi-carbon products in
bimetallic alloy catalysts.26 However, in the case of our NDs, compressive strain is unlikely
to be present because an abrupt and clean rather than an alloyed interface is observed with
very few (if any) Cu and Ag atoms interdiffused at the interface (Figure 6a and after
electrochemical experiments in Figure S10). The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis in the
interfacial region confirms the presence of segregated Cu and Ag (Figure 6a). Consistently,
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we did not see a shift in the position of the primary reflections of Cu or Ag from the XRD
pattern (Figure 2d), which would be expected for strained domains. Interestingly, as
mentioned above, we observed a blue shift of the SPR peak of Ag in the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs relative
to the SPR peak of Ag in the Ag NPs (Figure 2e), and such a shift increases with the Cu-Ag
interfacial area (Figure 6b). This blue shift of the SPR peak can be ascribed to the increased
electron density in the Ag domain of the dimer, as other parameters (size, shape, dielectric
environment, etc.), which affect the SPR position, are all constant. In addition, it is noteworthy
that the increased extinction at around 450 nm is caused by the interband transition of metallic
Cu, rather than the formation of an Ag/Cu alloy interface (Figure S11). Therefore, we can
deduce that in the NDs the Ag domain serves as electron acceptor of Cu domain, a phenomenon
that is possible only if there is a shared interface and it is not possible in the physical mixture.
In fact, since Cu has a higher electron chemical potential than Ag, such an electron transfer is
thermodynamically favorable, which drives the transfer of electrons from Cu to Ag as it has
also been demonstrated in other studies.41, 59-60 To confirm the electron transfer process, we
further collected the XPS spectra on Cu NPs, Ag NPs, Ag1-Cu0.4 NDs, Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs, and Ag1-
Cu3.2 NDs (Figure 6c). As the size of the Cu domain increases, the binding energies of the
Ag3d core levels in the Ag-Cu NDs continuously blue-shift and concomitant changes are
observed also in the XPS and Auger spectra of the Cu (Figure S12), which unambiguously
verifies the electron transfer from the Cu domain to the Ag domain. Such a phenomenon allows
to transform a local effect into a global effect and thus to impact the catalytic behavior of the
whole Cu domain when interfaced with the Ag domain by enhancing its intrinsic activity
towards C2H4. Electron-depleted copper has been already shown to increase the binding of CO
on catalyst surface, which in turn facilitates the coupling of CO into C2H4.61 Furthermore, it
has been found that there is an optimum in the electron density of copper which maximizes
ethylene production.61 In our NDs, the extent of the interface through the size of the copper
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domain allows to modulate the partial copper oxidation state and thus to reach the optimal
conditions (interface + copper domain size) to promote CO-CO dimerization. This explains the
interface-dependent FE observed on the three different dimers with the maximum C2H4
production reached for the Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs (Figure 5). In the future, the synthesis of bimetallic
heterostructures where the extent of the interface can be varied while preserving the optimal
domain size (e.g. by changing the center-to-center distance in NDs) can be targeted to further
explore the interface effect now revealed.
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Figure 7. Schematic representation of the proposed mechanism of C2H4 promotion in the Ag-
Cu NDs which couples the tandem catalysis (CO spillover or sequential adsorption), induced
by the presence of Ag and Cu as segregated domains, and the electronic effect caused by the
charge transfer at the interface which intimately binds them.
CONCLUSION
In summary, we have developed a novel seeded-growth colloidal approach to tailor make Ag-
Cu NDs with different Cu domain sizes (Ag1-Cu0.4, Ag1-Cu1.1 and Ag1-Cu3.2), and achieved a
synthetic control over the respective counterparts, Cu NPs and Ag NPs. As a general lesson on
the NP synthesis, the proper selection of the metal precursor and the reducing agent is crucial
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to achieve the desired bimetallic nanodimers wherein the presence of an interface accounts for
charge transfer phenomena which modify the optoelectronic properties compared with the two
isolated metals. The synthetic strategy here reported can potentially be extended to other dimer
systems in which the two metals are immiscible in the bulk phase (i.e., do not form alloys),
such as Cu-Ru, Cu-Rh, Cu-Ir. For miscible metals, such as Cu-Au, the addition of structure-
modulating agents (e.g., thiols) might be needed to promote dimerization.35, 62 These Ag/Cu
nanocrystals served as perfect model catalysts to study the compositional and structural
sensitivities of CO2RR in this bimetallic system. The Ag1-Cu1.1 NDs showed a 3.4-fold FE
enhancement towards ethylene and a 2-fold improvement in the overall CO2RR activity
compared with the Cu NPs of the similar size and shape. Figure 7 depicts a schematic
summarizing the proposed mechanism behind the electrocatalytic activity of the Ag-Cu NDs.
The tandem catalysis and the modified electronic structure, both endowed by the unique Ag-
Cu dimer structure, were identified to be the factors accounting for the enhancement in the
selectivity for C2H4 and activity for CO2 reduction. Our conclusion suggests that the selectivity
of bimetallic catalysts in CO2RR is sensitive to the lengthscale at which the metals mix.
Sequential catalysis and electronic effects were identified as predominant mechanisms behind
the increased selectivity towards multicarbon products in Ag/Cu catalysts when Ag and Cu
were microscopically segregated (micron scale) and surface alloyed (atomic scale),
respectively.26, 57 Our study on the Ag-Cu nanodimers evidences the combination of the two
effects when the mixing of the two metals occurs at the nanoscale. Considering the huge library
of materials accessible by colloidal approaches, we believe similar studies have the potential
to have a great impact in the development of catalyst design for CO2RR.
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
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Supporting Information. Information related to synthesis, additional CO2RR results and
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discussion, optical properties and chemical states of samples. This material is available free of
charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the European Research Council under Starting Grant ERC-
HYCAT with agreement number 715634 and by the Sandoz Family Foundation.
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