Ag@ZnO porous nanoparticle wrapped by rGO for the effective CO2 electrochemical reduction

[Display omitted] •A facile hydrothermal synthesis route of Ag@ZnO@rGO was developed.•The efficiency of electrochemical CO2 reduction is highly dependent on the porosity and conductivity properties.•The effective interaction in porous material enhances high-performance CO2 reduction. Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for the most significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, progress towards decrease the existence of atmospheric CO2 have received considerable attention. Therefore, focus on carbon capture and utilization, which reduces the content of CO2 and provides an excellent solution to generate value-added and renewable fuels. Herein, the electrochemical CO2 reduction activity of Ag@ZnO@rGO electrocatalysts prepared by facile synthesis route has been systematically investigated. The good incorporation of Ag in the ZnO NPs matrix (Ag@ZnO) was synthesized through the thermal calcination of Ag+-impregnated ZIF8. Then, Ag@ZnO was coated by rGO using a hydrothermal technique. We found that the efficiency of electrochemical CO2 reduction is highly dependent on the porosity and conductivity properties. The effective interaction of rGO in Ag-based ZnO porous nanoparticles showed high activity, leading to reach Faradaic efficiencies of about 70% at −1.6 V vs. SCE. To the best of our knowledge, the performance in this work is comparable to the literature. Additionally, the electrocatalyst stays for more than 30 min without any significant change of activity, possessing the ability for applications to reducing CO2.