An Innovative Approach to Precisely Tailor the Composition of Syngas in CO<sub>2</sub> Electroreduction
Shuai Lv, Xinyi Sun, Baolin Wang, Wenrui Wan, Li Wang, Jianji Wang, Jinglai Zhang
Abstract
Abstract Syngas production through CO 2 electrochemical reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) has attracted numerous attention for reducing carbon emissions and increasing chemical feedstocks. However, the precise regulation of H 2 /CO molar ratio in syngas remains a challenge, especially through simple and feasible methodologies. In this work, a novel composite electrocatalyst, copper‐indium/black phosphorus ( CuIn/BP ) is developed, using a simple one‐step co‐reduction method for efficient CO 2 RR. It is found for the first time that there is a linear relationship between BP content in CuIn/BP and the H 2 /CO molar ratio in syngas. Consequently, the H 2 /CO molar ratio in syngas can be precisely tailored by simply adjusting the BP content in CuIn/BP . A total faradaic efficiency (FE) of CO and H 2 reached ≈ 100% along with a current density of 135.2 mA cm −2 . Mechanistic studies suggest that the CuIn phase and Cu 3 P species are in situ generated in CuIn/BP , where the CuIn phases mainly contribute to CO generation, while the Cu 3 P species promote H 2 formation. The variation in BP content modulates the proportion of the CuIn phase and Cu 3 P species, leading to the variations in H 2 /CO molar ratios. Thus, this study provides an efficient and simple strategy to tailor the H 2 /CO molar ratio in syngas for various industrial applications.