Efficient electroreduction of CO to acetate using a metal–azolate framework with dicopper active sites

Abstract

Electrochemical reduction of CO to value-added products, especially C₂ products, provides a potential approach to achieve carbon neutrality and overcome the energy crisis. Herein, we report a metal–azolate framework (CuBpz) with dicopper active sites as an electrocatalyst for the electrochemical CO reduction reaction (eCORR). As a result, CuBpz achieved an impressive faradaic efficiency (FE) of 47.8% for yielding acetate with a current density of −200 mA cm⁻², while no obvious degradation was observed over 60 hours of continuous operation at a current density of −200 mA cm⁻². Mechanism studies revealed that the dicopper site can promote C–C coupling between two C₁ intermediates, thereby being conducive to the generation of the key *CH₂COOH intermediate.