Vertical silver@silver chloride core-shell nanowire array for carbon dioxide electroreduction

Abstract

Core-shell nanowires with conductive metal cores and active catalyst shells hold great promise for making a catalyst electrode with high total activity. Indeed, core-shell nanowire arrays have been demonstrated as the catalyst in various electrochemical reactions, yet their catalytic roles are underexplored for carbon dioxide (CO2) electroreduction. Herein, we report a reduced silver@silver chloride (Ag@AgClx) core-shell nanowire array for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. The Ag@AgClx core-shell array electrode shows high total activity including low onset potential and high current density. The strong electronic coupling between AgClx and the Ag core results in the record-high specific CO2RR activity to date.