Spectrometric Monitoring of CO2 Electrolysis on Molecularly Modified Copper Surface

Abstract

Since copper has been extensively studied due to its unique ability to reduce carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons and alcohols, it tends to yield a mixture of products. Among various efforts to improve the selectivity and efficiency of this catalysis, the introduction of organic molecules and polymers on the copper/electrolyte interface has proven to be an effective and promising way to improve surface activity, considering the variation and precise designability of organic structure. The role of surface molecular modifiers, however, is not as simple as that in homogeneous catalysts, and understandings of a wide scale of interactions from atomic scale to whole electrode structure is required. This feature article classifies those different scale interactions caused by organic modifiers on copper catalysts, together with the experimental support by in situ vibrational spectroscopy which directly observes surface species and events. Based on these recent understandings, novel fabrication methods of organic structure on copper catalysts is also discussed.