Highly Efficient Electroreduction of CO 2 to Ethanol via Asymmetric C–C Coupling by a Metal–Organic Framework with Heterodimetal Dual Sites

The electroreduction of CO2 into value-added liquid fuels holds great promise for addressing global environmental and energy challenges. However, achieving highly selective yielding of multi-carbon oxygenates through the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) is a formidable task, primarily due to the sluggish asymmetric C–C coupling reaction. In this study, a novel metal–organic framework (CuSn–HAB) with unprecedented heterometallic Sn···Cu dual sites (namely, a pair of SnN2O2 and CuN4 sites bridged by μ-N atoms) was designed to overcome this limitation. CuSn–HAB demonstrated an impressive Faradic efficiency (FE) of 56(2)% for eCO2RR to alcohols, achieving a current density of 68 mA cm–2 at a low…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 21890380, 21821003, 22371304
• GP
  Guangdong Provincial Pearl River Talents Program

  Award: 2017BT01C161
• NK
  National Key Research and Development Program of China

  Award: 2021YFA1500401
• SF
  Special Fund Project for Science and Technology Innovation Strategy of Guangdong Province

  Award: STKJ2023078