Synergistic chemisorbing and electronic effects for efficient CO₂ reduction using cysteamine-functionalized gold nanoparticles

Inspired by the architectural feature of the natural enzyme of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase, cysteamine-capped Au nanoparticles (CA-Au NPs) are investigated with remarkable mass activity for CO₂ reduction. CA-Au NPs exhibit exclusive CO selectivity, low onset overpotential, and a 110-fold enhancement in mass activity compared with ligand-free Au NPs. Electronic structure and in situ spectroscopy analyses indicate that increased activity is due to the electronic effect derived from thiolate anchoring on the surface and chemisorbing CO₂ and intermediates by terminal-NH₂ functional groups. Our study provides the basis for fabricating effective catalysts for CO₂ reduction.