N-Doped Nanoporous Carbon from Biomass as a Highly Efficient Electrocatalyst for the CO2 Reduction Reaction

Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to high value-added chemicals is essential for sustainable development of human civilization. Seeking catalysts with high activity, selectivity, stability, and low cost is vital for CO 2 conversion. Heteroatom doped carbon materials have proven to be very promising catalysts for CO 2 reduction due to their low cost, high surface area, high conductivity, and excellent stability as well as high electrochemical activity. Herein, we report a N-doped nanoporous carbon sheet derived from cheap and renewable biomass Typha with high surface area, pore volume, and pyridinic N content, which achieved a much higher selectivity (90%) for CO at a much lower overpotential (−0.31 V) than most N-doped carbon materials. The calcination temperature has a great effect on porous structure and the kinds of N species in the catalyst, in which the pyridinic N species play important roles in catalytic performance.