The interfacial effect induced by rare earth oxide in boosting the conversion of CO to formate

The selectivity in the electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) has attracted tremendous attention but still faces a great challenge. Constructing an interface has become an advanced strategy to effectively modulate electroactivity and selectivity. Herein, we report the synthesis of a CeO 2 /Bi 3 NbO 7 fibrous tubular structure through a simple electrospinning method, which has shown a much-improved selectivity of 84.73% towards formic acid with remarkable durability in the CO 2 RR. Theoretical calculations have demonstrated that the construction interface has supplied highly electroactive regions with efficient electron transfer, which not only improves the adsorption of key adsorbates but also alleviates the reaction energy barriers. The modulation induced by the interface enables the high selectivity and yield of HCOOH. This work has supplied a novel and advanced strategy to utilize the interfacial effect in developing superior CO 2 RR electrocatalysts in the future. This work has proposed the novel composite electrocatalyst CeO 2 /Bi 3 NbO 7 for CO 2 reduction, where the interfacial effect leads to significantly improved performances and benefits the future design of efficient electrocatalysts based on oxides.