Atomically dispersed Cu-Zn tandem catalyst for efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to alcohols

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) is one of the most prospective strategies to achieve carbon neutrality. Multi-carbon compound (C 2+ ) products have higher commercial value and wider applications, among which ethanol is a widely used chemical feedstock and high energy density fuel. Here, we prepared nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers containing copper-zinc double atoms using the electrospinning technique and controlled the content of both metal atoms by varying the calcination temperature. This catalyst exhibited ultra-high selectivity for ethanol at low potentials. Ethanol selectivity at −0.3 V versus RHE was more than 60% with the total alcohol selectivity of over 80%. Meanwhile, we explored the ethanol production pathway by combining density-functional theory (DFT) and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, and found that OCCO* intermediates were most abundant for the optimal ratio of Cu to Zn atoms, lowering the energetic barriers to ethanol formation, and thus improving the selectivity of ethanol production.