Publication date: 6th November 2020
Based on the original composition of fayalitic slags, we report the first work to fabricate a suite of CuxPby (x + y = 10) bimetallic catalysts directly from industrial waste with controllable metal ratio and structures. The electrocatalytic CO2RR performance showed that the selectivity towards both HCOOH and CO could be tuned by varying the amount of Pb. The coexistence of optimal amount of Pb in Cu catalyst can effecitvely enhance C1 formation by the effective hydrogen suppression. The selectivity of HCOOH (49%) and CO (41%) were maximized on Cu9.00Pb1.00 at 1.05 V (vs. RHE) in 0.1 M KHCO3, which are 43 times and 24 times higher than that of pure Cu, respectively. The improved formation of CO could be attributed to the partially occupied H2 evolution active sites by Pb which intrinsically facilitates the HCOOH production with suppressed HER.