Tuning N coordination environment in AgNC single atom catalysts for efficient electrochemical CO2-to-Ethanol conversion

In this work, single-atom Ag anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts are designed to investigate the effect of different N-coordination environments on the ECO2RR products pathway. The combination of experiments and theory calculations reveal that the Ag-N4-C (pyrrolic N) site facilitates the adsorption of CO2 to produce CO, whereas Ag-N3-C (pyridine N) exhibits the highest binding energy (-4.73 eV) to hold *CO intermediates for dimerization, consequently steering the pathway to ethanol (C2H5OH) formation with a FE of 42% at −0.97 V vs. RHE.