Issue 27, 2024

Efficient CO2 electroreduction to ethanol enabled by tip-curvature-induced local electric fields

Abstract

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 into multicarbon (C2+) products offers a promising pathway for CO2 utilization. However, achieving high selectivity towards multicarbon alcohols, such as ethanol, remains a challenge. In this work, we present a novel CuO nanoflower catalyst with engineered tip curvature, achieving remarkable selectivity and efficiency in the electroreduction of CO2 to ethanol. This catalyst exhibits an ethanol faradaic efficiency (FEethanol) of 47% and a formation rate of 320 μmol h−1 cm−2, with an overall C2+ product faradaic efficiency (FEC2+) reaching ∼77.8%. We attribute this performance to the catalyst's sharp tip, which generates a strong local electric field, thereby accelerating CO2 activation and facilitating C–C coupling for deep CO2 reduction. In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals an increased *OH coverage under operating conditions, where the enhanced *OH adsorption facilitates the stabilization of *CHCOH intermediates through hydrogen bonding interaction, thus improving ethanol selectivity. Our findings demonstrate the pivotal role of local electric fields in altering reaction kinetics for CO2 electroreduction, presenting a new avenue for catalyst design aiming at converting CO2 to ethanol.

Graphical abstract: Efficient CO2 electroreduction to ethanol enabled by tip-curvature-induced local electric fields

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 mar 2024
Accepted
14 jun 2024
First published
20 jun 2024

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 13011-13018

Efficient CO2 electroreduction to ethanol enabled by tip-curvature-induced local electric fields

J. Zhou, Q. Liang, P. Huang, J. Xu, T. Niu, Y. Wang, Y. Dong and J. Zhang, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 13011 DOI: 10.1039/D4NR01173B

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