Interface-Engineered Cu/Cu<sub>2</sub>In Metallic Aerogels for Efficient Electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction
Cun Chen, Honggang Huang, Yao Chen, Zhe Zhang, Hui Fu, Hanjun Li, Wei‐Hsiang Huang, Feili Lai, Nan Zhang, Tianxi Liu
Abstract
Interface engineering has been widely explored due to its potential for regulating the intermediate adsorption, controlling mass/electron transfer, and preventing severe aggregation of catalysts. Hence, we have synthesized a series of Cu–In metallic aerogels (MAs) with a controlled ratio of Cu/Cu 2 In interfaces as efficient catalysts for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). As a result, Cu–In MAs with the highest Cu/Cu 2 In interfaces abundance (Cu 2 In MAs) achieve the high Faradaic efficiency of CO up to 94.5% at −0.6 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), outperforming Cu 1 In MAs, Cu 3 In MAs, Cu 4 In MAs, and Cu MAs. Furthermore, Cu 2 In MAs with the highest Cu/Cu 2 In interface abundance also exhibit excellent stability after continuous electrolysis for 10 h. Mechanism research indicates that the rich Cu/Cu 2 In interfaces in Cu 2 In MAs allow for moderate adsorption of CO 2 and accelerate electronic transmission, which greatly reduce the energy barrier of the potential-limiting step, thus improving the CO 2 RR performance. This study indicates that interface engineering plays an important role in improving the CO 2 RR performance, providing a new strategy for preparing efficient CO 2 RR catalysts.