Ultrastable Cu Catalyst for CO<sub>2</sub> Electroreduction to Multicarbon Liquid Fuels by Tuning C–C Coupling with CuTi Subsurface
Fei Hu, Li Yang, Yawen Jiang, Chongxiong Duan, Xiaonong Wang, Longjiao Zeng, Xuefeng Lv, Delong Duan, Qi Liu, Tingting Kong, Jun Jiang, Ran Long, Yujie Xiong
Abstract
Abstract Production of multicarbon (C 2+ ) liquid fuels is a challenging task for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction, mainly limited by the stabilization of reaction intermediates and their subsequent C−C couplings. In this work, we report a unique catalyst, the coordinatively unsaturated Cu sites on amorphous CuTi alloy (a‐CuTi@Cu) toward electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction to multicarbon (C 2‐4 ) liquid fuels. Remarkably, the electrocatalyst yields ethanol, acetone, and n‐butanol as major products with a total C 2‐4 faradaic efficiency of about 49 % at −0.8 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), which can be maintained for at least 3 months. Theoretical simulations and in situ characterization reveals that subsurface Ti atoms can increase the electron density of surface Cu sites and enhance the adsorption of *CO intermediate, which in turn reduces the energy barriers required for *CO dimerization and trimerization.