Fluorination fine-tunes the electronic structure and hydrophobic microenvironment of metal-free nitrogen-doped carbon for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 reduction

Key Points

• This research focuses on how fluorination affects the electronic structure and hydrophobicity of nitrogen-doped carbon.
• Utilized fluorine's properties to study its effects on nitrogen-doped carbon.
• Investigated changes in p-orbital of pyridinic nitrogen.
• Analyzed modulation of the p-band centre.
• Fluorination alters the electronic structure of nitrogen-doped carbon.
• Hydrophobicity is enhanced by fluorine, improving CO2 reduction efficiency.