Crystalline/Amorphous Ni₂P/Ho₂O₃Core/Shell Nanoparticles for Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ to Acetone

Electrocatalysts for C3 chemicals, such as acetone in CO2 reduction reaction, are predominantly limited to Cu-based materials. Therefore, it is highly desirable to devise design strategies and synthetic routes for novel electrocatalysts. This study demonstrates an original synthetic route toward uniform crystalline/amorphous Ni2P/Ho2O3 core/shell nanoparticles (CSNPs), which produce acetone with a Faradaic efficiency of 25.4%. To date, this is by far the best performance demonstrated with non-Cu-based electrocatalysts. These excellent CSNP properties can be attributed to their unique heterostructures because Ni2P or Ho2O3 electrocatalysts alone cannot produce acetone. Our demonstration greatly contributes to the development of innovative electrocatalysts, especially for valuable multicarbon (C3+) chemicals.