<i>In-situ</i> constructed Cu/CuNC interfaces for low-overpotential reduction of CO2 to ethanol
Yan Yang, Jiaju Fu, Yixin Ouyang, Tang Tang, Yun Zhang, Lirong Zheng, Qinghua Zhang, Xiaozhi Liu, Jinlan Wang, Jin‐Song Hu
Abstract
Abstract Electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) to high-value multi-carbon (C2+) products is critical to sustainable energy conversion, yet the high energy barrier of C-C coupling causes catalysts to suffer high overpotential and low selectivity toward specific liquid C2+ products. Here, the electronically asymmetric Cu-Cu/Cu-N-C (Cu/CuNC) interface site is found, by theoretical calculations, to enhance the adsorption of *CO intermediates and decrease the reaction barrier of C-C coupling in ECR, enabling efficient C-C coupling at low overpotential. The catalyst consisting of high-density Cu/CuNC interface sites (noted as ER-Cu/CuNC) is then accordingly designed and constructed in situ on the high-loading Cu-N-C single atomic catalysts. Systematical experiments corroborate the theoretical prediction that the ER-Cu/CuNC boosts electrocatalytic CO2-to-ethanol conversion with a Faradaic efficiency toward C2+ of 60.3% (FEethanol of 55%) at a low overpotential of −0.35 V. These findings provide new insights and an attractive approach to creating electronically asymmetric dual sites for efficient conversion of CO2 to C2+ products.