Steering the structure and selectivity of CO2 electroreduction catalysts by potential pulses

Abstract Convoluted selectivity trends and a missing link between reaction product distribution and catalyst properties hinder practical applications of the electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) for multicarbon product generation. Here we employ operando X-ray absorption and X-ray diffraction methods with subsecond time resolution to unveil the surprising complexity of catalysts exposed to dynamic reaction conditions. We show that by using a pulsed reaction protocol consisting of alternating working and oxidizing potential periods that dynamically perturb catalysts derived from Cu 2 O nanocubes, one can decouple the effect of the ensemble of coexisting copper species on the product distribution. In…

• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  Awards: 390540038, 406944504, SPP 2080, EXC 2008, EXC 2008, 390540038
• M
  Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
• PS
  Paul Scherrer Institut
• DE
  Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron