Issue 33, 2024

Interface engineering and oxygen vacancies derived from plasma-treated Cu2O synergistically enhancing electrocatalytic CO2-to-C2+ conversion

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction (ECR) into value-added chemicals and fuels helps tackle the challenges of the energy crisis and global warming. However, this strategy relies heavily on the rational design of catalysts with high selectivity and activity towards C2+ products. Herein, we introduce a dual-engineering strategy using plasma-treated Cu2O to synergistically enhance the material's catalytic performance for CO2-to-C2+ conversion. We demonstrate that well-controlled plasma reduction treatment in an Ar/H2 atmosphere can yield stable Cu2O–Cu catalysts (Cu2O–Ar/H2) with Cu0/Cu+ interfaces, abundant grain boundaries, and a high density of oxygen vacancies. Cu2O–Ar/H2 delivers an impressive 81.2% faradaic efficiency for C2+ products at an industrial current density of 100 mA cm−2. Performance comparisons show that plasma pre-reduction treatment samples outperform the in situ reduced Cu2O sample during ECR. Theoretical calculations reveal that the well-defined Cu0/Cu+ interfaces optimize intermediate adsorption and the oxygen vacancies provide multiple active sites for C–C coupling. This work establishes a correlation between plasma treatment-generated active sites and high C2+ product selectivity. Our work also demonstrates that this facile, scalable, standardized and controllable material preparation method can effectively promote the large-scale application of high-activity ECR catalysts.

Graphical abstract: Interface engineering and oxygen vacancies derived from plasma-treated Cu2O synergistically enhancing electrocatalytic CO2-to-C2+ conversion

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 maj 2024
Accepted
15 jul 2024
First published
16 jul 2024

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 21864-21872

Interface engineering and oxygen vacancies derived from plasma-treated Cu2O synergistically enhancing electrocatalytic CO2-to-C2+ conversion

L. Wang, X. Yao, S. Jana, Y. Zhou, C. Qin, H. Shou, Y. Teng, N. Chen, L. Zhang, C. V. Singh, Z. Tan and Y. A. Wu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 21864 DOI: 10.1039/D4TA03492A

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