Direct OC-CHO coupling towards highly C<sub>2+</sub> products selective electroreduction over stable Cu<sup>0</sup>/Cu<sup>2+</sup> interface.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37996421.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-43182-6 and PMC identifier 10667242.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Electroreduction of CO<sub>2</sub> to valuable multicarbon (C<sub>2+</sub>) products is a highly attractive way to utilize and divert emitted CO<sub>2</sub>. However, a major fraction of C<sub>2+</sub> selectivity is confined to less than 90% by the difficulty of coupling C-C bonds efficiently. Herein, we identify the stable Cu<sup>0</sup>/Cu<sup>2+</sup> interfaces derived from copper phosphate-based (CuPO) electrocatalysts, which can facilitate C<sub>2+</sub> production with a low-energy pathway of OC-CHO coupling verified by in situ spectra studies and theoretical calculations. The CuPO precatalyst shows a high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 69.7% towards C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> in an H-cell, and exhibits a significant FE<sub>C2+</sub> of 90.9% under industrially relevant current density (j = -350 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>) in a flow cell configuration. The stable Cu<sup>0</sup>/Cu<sup>2+</sup> interface breaks new ground for the structural design of electrocatalysts and the construction of synergistic active sites to improve the activity and selectivity of valuable C<sub>2+</sub> products.