Electrocatalytic CO 2 -to-C 2+ with Ampere-Level Current on Heteroatom-Engineered Copper via Tuning *CO Intermediate Coverage

An ampere-level current density of CO2 electrolysis is critical to realize the industrial production of multicarbon (C2+) fuels. However, under such a large current density, the poor CO intermediate (*CO) coverage on the catalyst surface induces the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction, which hinders CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). Herein, we report reliable ampere-level CO2-to-C2+ electrolysis by heteroatom engineering on Cu catalysts. The Cu-based compounds with heteroatom (N, P, S, O) are electrochemically reduced to heteroatom-derived Cu with significant structural reconstruction under CO2RR conditions. It is found that N-engineered Cu (N–Cu) catalyst exhibits the best CO2-to-C2+ productivity with a…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 52006105, 51888103
• AR
  Australian Research Council

  Awards: FT200100062, DP190103472, DP220102596, FL170100154