Construction of Cobalt Porphyrin‐Modified Cu<sub>2</sub>O Nanowire Array as a Tandem Electrocatalyst for Enhanced CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction to C<sub>2</sub> Products
Shihao Min, Xiao Xu, Jiaxin He, Miao Sun, Wenlie Lin, Longtian Kang
Abstract
Abstract Here, the molecule‐modified Cu‐based array is first constructed as the self‐supporting tandem catalyst for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) to C 2 products. The modification of cuprous oxide nanowire array on copper mesh (Cu 2 O@CM) with cobalt(II) tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP) molecules is achieved via a simple liquid phase method. The systematical characterizations confirm that the formation of axial coordinated Co‐O‐Cu bond between Cu 2 O and CoTPP can significantly promote the dispersion of CoTPP molecules on Cu 2 O and the electrical properties of CoTPP‐Cu 2 O@CM heterojunction array. Consequently, as compared to Cu 2 O@CM array, the optimized CoTPP‐Cu 2 O@CM sample as electrocatalyst can realize the 2.08‐fold C 2 Faraday efficiency (73.2% vs 35.2%) and the 2.54‐fold current density (‒52.9 vs ‒20.8 mA cm –2 ) at ‒1.1 V versus RHE in an H‐cell. The comprehensive performance is superior to most of the reported Cu‐based materials in the H‐cell. Further study reveals that the CoTPP adsorption on Cu 2 O can restrain the hydrogen evolution reaction, improve the coverage of * CO intermediate, and maintain the existence of Cu(I) at low potential.