Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2
Abstract The electrocatalysis of flue gas into CO in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) provides a sustainable route for realizing practical CO2 electrolysis technology but suffers from restricted CO2 mass transport due to thick gas boundary layer (GBL) and weak concentration gradient. Inspired by nu...
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| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62240-9 |
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| author | Jialei Chen Tiantian Lu Xuelong Liao Shan Chen Youzeng Li Yue Wang Runyu Lv Wenyue Cui Wenlong Lan Wei Wang Lixin Cao Zhuo Chen Zhuang Zhao Jinhan Li Wei Shi Sheng Zhang Huan Wang |
| author_facet | Jialei Chen Tiantian Lu Xuelong Liao Shan Chen Youzeng Li Yue Wang Runyu Lv Wenyue Cui Wenlong Lan Wei Wang Lixin Cao Zhuo Chen Zhuang Zhao Jinhan Li Wei Shi Sheng Zhang Huan Wang |
| author_sort | Jialei Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The electrocatalysis of flue gas into CO in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) provides a sustainable route for realizing practical CO2 electrolysis technology but suffers from restricted CO2 mass transport due to thick gas boundary layer (GBL) and weak concentration gradient. Inspired by nutrient diffusion mechanism in plant, we introduce the concept of self-reinforced CO2 concentration gradient, which is realized via porous carbon nanosheets (PC) as soil for enriching CO2 and single-atomic Ni-doped carbon nanotubes (Ni-CNTs) as rhizome for electro-catalyzing CO2. A combined experimental and simulation study reveals optimal length of Ni-CNTs on PC reduces the GBL thickness and spontaneously enhances CO2 concentration gradient, synergistically breaking the limitation of CO2 transport. Consequently, the CO Faradaic efficiency attains >90% with varying CO2 concentration of 4-15 vol. % CO2 in MEA. Further through incorporation of an O2-adsorption packed column before MEA, we realize the stable and selective conversion of O2-containing flue gas into CO. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3b29d5daa20b4d0bb247f9f7d86302a0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-3b29d5daa20b4d0bb247f9f7d86302a02025-08-20T03:05:14ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-08-0116111510.1038/s41467-025-62240-9Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2Jialei Chen0Tiantian Lu1Xuelong Liao2Shan Chen3Youzeng Li4Yue Wang5Runyu Lv6Wenyue Cui7Wenlong Lan8Wei Wang9Lixin Cao10Zhuo Chen11Zhuang Zhao12Jinhan Li13Wei Shi14Sheng Zhang15Huan Wang16Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityKey Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin UniversityKey Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center (RECAST), Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai UniversityAbstract The electrocatalysis of flue gas into CO in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) provides a sustainable route for realizing practical CO2 electrolysis technology but suffers from restricted CO2 mass transport due to thick gas boundary layer (GBL) and weak concentration gradient. Inspired by nutrient diffusion mechanism in plant, we introduce the concept of self-reinforced CO2 concentration gradient, which is realized via porous carbon nanosheets (PC) as soil for enriching CO2 and single-atomic Ni-doped carbon nanotubes (Ni-CNTs) as rhizome for electro-catalyzing CO2. A combined experimental and simulation study reveals optimal length of Ni-CNTs on PC reduces the GBL thickness and spontaneously enhances CO2 concentration gradient, synergistically breaking the limitation of CO2 transport. Consequently, the CO Faradaic efficiency attains >90% with varying CO2 concentration of 4-15 vol. % CO2 in MEA. Further through incorporation of an O2-adsorption packed column before MEA, we realize the stable and selective conversion of O2-containing flue gas into CO.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62240-9 |
| spellingShingle | Jialei Chen Tiantian Lu Xuelong Liao Shan Chen Youzeng Li Yue Wang Runyu Lv Wenyue Cui Wenlong Lan Wei Wang Lixin Cao Zhuo Chen Zhuang Zhao Jinhan Li Wei Shi Sheng Zhang Huan Wang Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 Nature Communications |
| title | Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 |
| title_full | Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 |
| title_fullStr | Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 |
| title_short | Nutrient diffusion-inspired catalysts with self-reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute CO2 |
| title_sort | nutrient diffusion inspired catalysts with self reinforced concentration gradient for sustainable electroreduction of dilute co2 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62240-9 |
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