Over 2 A cm<sup>−2</sup> CO<sub>2</sub>‐to‐Ethanol Conversion by Alkali‐Metal Cation Induced Copper With Dominant (200) Facets
Peng Chen, Songtao Yang, Gan Luo, Shuai Yan, Mohsen Shakouri, Junbo Zhang, Yangshen Chen, Zhiqiang Wang, Wei Wei, Tsun‐Kong Sham, Gengfeng Zheng
Abstract
Abstract The high‐rate ethanol electrosynthesis from CO 2 is challenging due to the low selectivity and poor activity, which requires the competition with other reduction products and H 2 . Here, the electrochemical reconstruction of Cs 3 Cu 2 Cl 5 perovskite to form surface Cl‐bonded, low‐coordinated Cs modified Cu(200) nanocubes (CuClCs), is demonstrated. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the CuClCs structure possesses low Bader charges and a large coordination capacity; and thus, can promote the CO 2 ‐to‐ethanol pathway via stabilizing C−O bond in oxygenate intermediates. The CuClCs catalyst exhibits outstanding partial current densities for producing ethanol (up to 2124 ± 54 mA cm −2 ) as one of the highest reported values in the electrochemical CO 2 or CO reduction. This work suggests an attractive strategy with surface alkali‐metal cations for ampere‐level CO 2 ‐to‐ethanol electrosynthesis.