Creating interfaces of Cu0/Cu+ in oxide-derived copper catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction to multi-carbon products

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) is an effective approach to capture CO 2 and convert it into value-added chemicals and fuels, thereby reducing excess CO 2 emissions. Recent reports have shown that copper-based catalysts exhibit excellent performance in converting CO 2 into multi-carbon compounds and hydrocarbons. However, the   selectivity   to the coupling   products   is   poor. Therefore, tuning   CO 2 -reduction   selectivity   toward C 2+   products   over Cu-based catalyst is one of the most important issues in CO 2 RR. Herein, we prepare a nanosheet catalyst with interfaces of Cu 0 /Cu + . The catalyst achieves Faraday efficiency (FE) of C 2+ over 50% in a wide potential window between − 1.2 V to − 1.5 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE). Moreover, the catalyst exhibits maximum FE of 44.5% and 58.9% towards C 2 H 4 and C 2+ , with a partial current density of 10.5 mA cm −2 at − 1.4 V. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the interface of Cu 0 /Cu + facilitates C C coupling to form C 2+ products, while inhibits CO 2   conversion to   C 1   products.