Constructing atomically dispersed Ni-Mn catalysts for electrochemical CO₂ reduction over the wide potential window

Single-atom catalysts (SACs), known for their high atomic utilization efficiency, are highly attractive for electrochemical CO₂ conversion. Nevertheless, it is struggling to use a single active site to overcome the linear scaling relationship among intermediates. Herein, an isolated diatomic Ni-Mn dual-sites catalyst was anchored on nitrogenated carbon, which exhibits remarkable electrocatalytic performance towards CO₂ reduction. The catalyst achieves CO Faradaic efficiency (FE_CO) over 90 % within the potential range of -0.6 to -1.4 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), and a nearly 100 % FE_CO at a current density of 325 mA cm^-2 in the flow cell. The Ni-Mn-NC also exhibits long-term stability, maintaining FE_CO above 96 % for over 14 h. The density functional theory (DFT) studies further reveal that the synergistic effect of adjacent Ni-Mn centers effectively reduces the reaction barriers for the formation of *COOH and thus accelerates the reduction of CO₂.