Carbene

Methane

Catalysis

Adsorption

Electrochemistry

Inorganic chemistry

Faraday efficiency

Electrocatalyst

Physical chemistry

Combinatorial chemistry

Organic chemistry

Electrosynthesis

Chemistry

Electrode

Copper

Angewandte Chemie International Edition

The exploitation of highly efficient carbon dioxide reduction (CO2 RR) electrocatalyst for methane (CH4 ) electrosynthesis has attracted great attention for the intermittent renewable electricity storage but remains challenging. Here, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-ligated copper single atom site (Cu SAS) embedded in metal-organic framework is reported (2Bn-Cu@UiO-67), which can achieve an outstanding Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 81 % for the CO2 reduction to CH4 at -1.5 V vs. RHE with a current density of 420 mA cm-2 . The CH4 FE of our catalyst remains above 70 % within a wide potential range and achieves an unprecedented turnover frequency (TOF) of 16.3 s-1 . The σ donation of NHC enriches the surface electron density of Cu SAS and promotes the preferential adsorption of CHO* intermediates. The porosity of the catalyst facilitates the diffusion of CO2 to 2Bn-Cu, significantly increasing the availability of each catalytic center.

MOF Encapsulating N‐Heterocyclic Carbene‐Ligated Copper Single‐Atom Site Catalyst towards Efficient Methane Electrosynthesis