Abstract
Syngas, a CO and H2 mixture mostly generated from non-renewable fossil fuels, is an essential feedstock for production of liquid fuels. Electrochemical reduction of CO2 and H+/H2O is an alternative renewable route to produce syngas. Here we introduce the concept of coupling a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst with a CDots/C3N4 composite (a CO2 reduction catalyst) to achieve a cheap, stable, selective and efficient route for tunable syngas production. Co3O4, MoS2, Au and Pt serve as the HER component. The Co3O4-CDots-C3N4 electrocatalyst is found to be the most efficient among the combinations studied. The H2/CO ratio of the produced syngas is tunable from 0.07:1 to 4:1 by controlling the potential. This catalyst is highly stable for syngas generation (over 100 h) with no other products besides CO and H2. Insight into the mechanisms balancing between CO2 reduction and H2 evolution when applying the HER-CDots-C3N4 catalyst concept is provided.