Hetero-Interfaces on Cu Electrode for Enhanced Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Multi-Carbon Products

Xiaotong Li; Jianghao Wang; Xiangzhou Lv; Yue Yang; Yifei Xu; Qian Liu; Hao Bin Wu

doi:10.1007/s40820-022-00879-5

Hetero-Interfaces on Cu Electrode for Enhanced Electrochemical Conversion of CO₂ to Multi-Carbon Products

Nanomicro Lett. 2022 Jun 14;14(1):134. doi: 10.1007/s40820-022-00879-5.

Authors

Xiaotong Li^#¹, Jianghao Wang^#¹, Xiangzhou Lv¹, Yue Yang¹, Yifei Xu¹, Qian Liu¹, Hao Bin Wu²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Composites Science Innovation (InCSI) and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China.
² Institute for Composites Science Innovation (InCSI) and State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, People's Republic of China. hbwu@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) to multi-carbon products would simultaneously reduce CO₂ emission and produce high-value chemicals. Herein, we report Cu electrodes modified by metal-organic framework (MOF) exhibiting enhanced electrocatalytic performance to convert CO₂ into ethylene and ethanol. The Zr-based MOF, UiO-66 would in situ transform into amorphous ZrO_x nanoparticles (a-ZrO_x), constructing a-ZrO_x/Cu hetero-interface as a dual-site catalyst. The Faradaic efficiency of multi-carbon (C2+) products for optimal UiO-66-coated Cu (0.5-UiO/Cu) electrode reaches a high value of 74% at - 1.05 V versus RHE. The intrinsic activity for C2+ products on 0.5-UiO/Cu electrode is about two times higher than that of Cu foil. In situ surface-enhanced Raman spectra demonstrate that UiO-66-derived a-ZrO_x coating can promote the stabilization of atop-bound CO* intermediates on Cu surface during CO₂ electrolysis, leading to increased CO* coverage and facilitating the C-C coupling process. The present study gives new insights into tailoring the adsorption configurations of CO₂RR intermediate by designing dual-site electrocatalysts with hetero-interfaces.

Keywords: CO2 reduction reaction; Copper; Hetero-interfaces; Metal–organic frameworks; Multi-carbon products.