Enhanced Local CO Coverage on Cu Quantum Dots for Boosting Electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction to Ethylene
Yan Wang, Jiarui Wang, Rui Cai, Jianfang Zhang, Shuai Xia, Zeping Li, Cuiping Yu, Jingjie Wu, Peng Wang, Yucheng Wu
Abstract
Abstract Ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) electrosynthesis from the electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction process holds enormous potential applications in industrial production. However, the sluggish kinetics of C─C coupling often result in low yield and poor selectivity for C 2 H 4 production. Herein, the performance of Cu catalysts of varying sizes is investigated, prepared via a cryo‐mediated liquid phase exfoliation technique, for the electrochemical CO 2 reduction to C 2 H 4 . The activity and selectivity of C 2 H 4 gradually increase as the size of the Cu catalysts decreases from tens of nanometers to a few nanometers. Impressively, the 5 nm Cu quantum dots (Cu‐5) achieve a maximum C 2 H 4 Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 81.5% and a half‐cell cathodic energy efficiency (CEE) of 42.2% with a large partial current density of 1.1 A cm −2 at −0.93 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Structural characterization and in situ spectroscopic analysis reveal that the Cu‐5 quantum dots, dominated by the (100) facet, provide an abundance of active sites that enhance CO 2 adsorption and activation, promoting the formation of *CO intermediates. The accumulation of *CO intermediates on the Cu active sites facilitates the CO‐CHO coupling reaction, thus enhancing the C 2 H 4 production rate.