Acidic-alkaline tandem system for durable CO<sub>2</sub>-CO-C<sub>2</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 42127173.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aea2538 and PMC identifier 13170626.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Tandem carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) to multicarbon products (CO<sub>2</sub>-CO-C<sub>2+</sub>) such as ethylene represents a pivotal strategy for carbon valorization. However, conventional alkaline or neutral tandem systems limit the carbon dioxide utilization and stability due to severe (bi)carbonate formation. Here, we design a durable acidic-alkaline tandem system to efficiently synthesize C<sub>2+</sub> products, especially ethylene. In the acidic CO<sub>2</sub>RR step, a catalyst with precisely controlled metal site distance was used to regulate *COOH adsorption. Typically, a 99.7 ± 0.4% carbon monoxide Faradaic efficiency (FE) at 1.4 amperes per square centimeter can be achieved using a catalyst with 0.5-nanometer nickel sites, surpassing the previously reported metal catalysts. When this catalyst was integrated into the acidic-alkaline tandem system and coupled with the alkaline carbon monoxide electroreduction, the ethylene and C<sub>2+</sub> FE reached 75.3 ± 1.2 and 92.5 ± 1.3% at 10 amperes, respectively, and remained stable for 400 hours. Our work provides solutions for the durable conversion of carbon dioxide to C<sub>2+</sub> products from catalyst and electrolyzer design.