New catalyst boosts carbon dioxide electroreduction to multicarbon products

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO2RR), using clean electricity to convert CO₂ and water into chemicals and fuels, is an effective way to simultaneously close the carbon cycle and store renewable energy.

It's difficult to generate multicarbon (C₂⁺) products due to the multiple proton-electron transfer, the complex intermediates and the sluggish C-C coupling step during CO₂RR to C₂⁺ products, leading to low selectivity and production rate for C₂⁺ formation.

Recently, a research team led by Prof. Wang Guoxiong, Prof. Gao Dunfeng and Prof. Bao Xinhe from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) designed a Cu-CuI composite catalyst, achieving efficient production of C₂⁺ chemicals from CO2RR.

This study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition on April 10.

The researchers designed the catalyst with abundant Cu₀/Cu₊ interfaces by physically mixing Cu nanoparticles and CuI powders.

Structural characterizations indicated that the Cu-CuI composite catalyst underwent significant reconstruction under CO2RR conditions, which was induced by alkaline electrolyte and applied potential.

The high-rate C₂⁺ production over Cu-CuI was ascribed to the presence of residual Cu⁺ and adsorbed iodine species, which improved CO adsorption and facilitate C-C coupling.

"This work presents a new strategy for designing efficient catalysts towards high-rate CO₂RR to C₂⁺ products," said Prof. Wang.