Kim, Chanyeon Choe, Yoong-Kee Won, Da Hye Lee, Ung Oh, Hyung-Suk Lee, Dong Ki Choi, Chang Hyuck Yoon, Sungho Kim, Woong Hwang, Yun Jeong Min, Byoung Koun 2024-01-19T19:31:05Z 2024-01-19T19:31:05Z 2021-09-04 2019-09 2380-8195 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/119653 Electrochemical CO2 reduction is typically operated under highly refined electrolyte conditions. However, trace amounts of metal impurities exist even in ultrapure electrolyte solutions, causing a fatal deactivation of the catalysts. To address this issue, various efforts have been made to prevent the harmful deposition of metal impurities on the catalyst. Herein, we designed a new system where metal impurities are utilized as activators. We demonstrated "self-activation" of the N-doped carbon catalyst in the presence of Fe impurity with remarkable stability for 120 h. The origin of the self-activation was the selective adsorption of Fe impurity forming highly dispersed Fe sites through Fe-N interactions. The correlations between the self-activation and number of N sites and their moieties were investigated and further generalized into other metals, such as Ni, Zn, and Cu. This novel general strategy has enormous impact on design of durable catalysts for various electrochemical reactions suffering from deactivation by metal impurities. English AMER CHEMICAL SOC OXYGEN REDUCTION PULSED ELECTROREDUCTION DIOXIDE REDUCTION ACTIVE-SITES ELECTROLYTE ELECTROCATALYSIS DEACTIVATION SIMULATION MEMBRANES ETHYLENE Turning Harmful Deposition of Metal Impurities into Activation of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Catalyst toward Durable Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Article 10.1021/acsenergylett.9b01581 1 ACS ENERGY LETTERS, v.4, no.9, pp.2343 - 2350 ACS ENERGY LETTERS 4 9 2343 2350 scie scopus 000486361500041 2-s2.0-85072912049 Chemistry, Physical Electrochemistry Energy & Fuels Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Chemistry Electrochemistry Energy & Fuels Science & Technology - Other Topics Materials Science Article OXYGEN REDUCTION PULSED ELECTROREDUCTION DIOXIDE REDUCTION ACTIVE-SITES ELECTROLYTE ELECTROCATALYSIS DEACTIVATION SIMULATION MEMBRANES ETHYLENE electrcatalysts CO2 reduction Nitrogen-doped carbon