Interface regulation promoting carbon monoxide gas diffusion electrolysis towards C2+ products

Abstract

Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into value-added multi-carbon products (C_2⁺) offers a promising approach for artificial oxycarbide recycling. However, C_2⁺ productivity is still limited by gas accessibility inside the catalyst layer. Here, a Cu-PMMA porous hybrid architecture with rich triple-phase boundaries was demonstrated to enhance both gas diffusion and electron transfer, and then, facilitate the kinetics of CO electrolysis. As a result, a high C_2⁺ faradaic efficiency (FE) of 81.6% at a current density of 50 mA cm⁻² and a maximum C_2⁺ partial current density of 140 mA cm⁻² were achieved, among the best performances for Cu/hybrid catalysts. This study provides a novel strategy for designing electrochemical CO reduction (ECORR) catalysts and paves the way for further developing gas-involving electrocatalysis.