Cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel with anchored silver nanoparticles for enhanced electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction in aqueous solutions

Cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel with anchored silver nanoparticles for enhanced electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction in aqueous solutions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel with anchored silver nanoparticles for enhanced electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction in aqueous solutions Hamed Negahbanfard, Hamid R. Zare, Nasim Hassani, Hossein Khoshro, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6954999/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂R) into value-added products represents a promising approach for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the substantial overpotential required for CO₂ reduction constrains its practical applications. In this study, we present a novel catalyst comprising silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) anchored on cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA/AgNPs) to enhance CO₂R in aqueous solutions. Cysteamine acts as a pivotal linker, covalently attaching AgNPs to rGOA through its thiol group, thereby improving catalyst stability and facilitating the formation of the *COOH intermediate, as corroborated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The high surface area of rGOA (51.43 m² g⁻¹) and its mesoporous structure significantly enhance CO₂ adsorption, while cysteamine fortifies the chemisorption of intermediates. These findings elucidate the synergistic effect of cysteamine-anchored AgNPs and rGOA, establishing an efficient electrocatalyst for sustainable CO₂ conversion. Cyclic voltammetry demonstrates that rGOA/AgNPs can reduce CO₂ to CO at -0.43 V (pH 7) and − 1.29 V (pH 3) relative to SCE. In contrast, CO₂ reduction is not observed on the surfaces of Ag, AgNPs, or rGO electrodes within the tested potential range. Furthermore, calculations suggest a two-electron transfer process (n ≈ 2), indicating a high selectivity for CO production. Silver nanoparticles Reduced graphene oxide aerogel CO₂ reduction Overpotential Full Text Supplementary Files SupportingInformation.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 16 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6954999","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":478816664,"identity":"ae16bf64-043c-410d-a5b0-9b0ecf2a3912","order_by":0,"name":"Hamed Negahbanfard","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yazd University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hamed","middleName":"","lastName":"Negahbanfard","suffix":""},{"id":478816665,"identity":"98eba831-c6b7-4e4d-8470-944a370d8765","order_by":1,"name":"Hamid R. 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However, the substantial overpotential required for CO₂ reduction constrains its practical applications. In this study, we present a novel catalyst comprising silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) anchored on cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA/AgNPs) to enhance CO₂R in aqueous solutions. Cysteamine acts as a pivotal linker, covalently attaching AgNPs to rGOA through its thiol group, thereby improving catalyst stability and facilitating the formation of the *COOH intermediate, as corroborated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The high surface area of rGOA (51.43 m\u0026sup2; g⁻\u0026sup1;) and its mesoporous structure significantly enhance CO₂ adsorption, while cysteamine fortifies the chemisorption of intermediates. These findings elucidate the synergistic effect of cysteamine-anchored AgNPs and rGOA, establishing an efficient electrocatalyst for sustainable CO₂ conversion. Cyclic voltammetry demonstrates that rGOA/AgNPs can reduce CO₂ to CO at -0.43 V (pH 7) and \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;1.29 V (pH 3) relative to SCE. In contrast, CO₂ reduction is not observed on the surfaces of Ag, AgNPs, or rGO electrodes within the tested potential range. Furthermore, calculations suggest a two-electron transfer process (n\u0026thinsp;\u0026asymp;\u0026thinsp;2), indicating a high selectivity for CO production.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Cysteamine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide aerogel with anchored silver nanoparticles for enhanced electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction in aqueous solutions","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-07-03 06:31:43","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6954999/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5b672f35-b4ce-4e99-bd28-9cd595471e62","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 3rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-20T16:00:16+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6954999","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-025-00347-z","journal":{"identity":"journal-of-materials-science-materials-in-engineering","isVorOnly":true,"title":"Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Engineering"},"publishedOn":"2025-10-16 15:57:14","publishedOnDateReadable":"October 16th, 2025"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-07-03 06:31:43","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40712-025-00347-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40712-025-00347-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6954999","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6954999","identity":"rs-6954999","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}