Issue 19, 2021

Efficient electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products on CeO2 modified CuO

Abstract

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 into multicarbon (C2+) products powered by renewable electricity offers one promising method for CO2 utilization and promotes the storage of renewable energy under an ambient environment. However, there is still a dilemma in the manufacture of valuable C2+ products between balancing selectivity and activity. In this work, cerium oxides were combined with CuO (CeO2/CuO) and showed an outstanding catalytic performance for C2+ products. The faradaic efficiency of the C2+ products could reach 75.2% with a current density of 1.21 A cm−2. In situ experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrated that the interface between CeO2 and Cu and the subsurface Cu2O coexisted in CeO2/CuO during CO2RR and two competing pathways for C–C coupling were promoted separately, of which hydrogenation of *CO to *CHO is energetically favoured. In addition, the introduction of CeO2 also enhanced water activation, which could accelerate the formation rate of *CHO. Thus, the selectivity and activity for C2+ products over CeO2/CuO can be improved simultaneously.

Graphical abstract: Efficient electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products on CeO2 modified CuO

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
25 Febr. 2021
Accepted
29 Marts 2021
First published
30 Marts 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 6638-6645

Efficient electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products on CeO2 modified CuO

X. Yan, C. Chen, Y. Wu, S. Liu, Y. Chen, R. Feng, J. Zhang and B. Han, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 6638 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC01117K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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