Hydrophobic surface efficiently boosting Cu2O nanowires photoelectrochemical CO2 reduction activity

Yanfang Zhang; Weixin Qiu; Yang Liu; Keke Wang; Luwei Zou; Yu Zhou; Min Liu; Xiaoqing Qiu; Jie Li; Wenzhang Li

doi:10.1039/d3cc00825h

Hydrophobic surface efficiently boosting Cu₂O nanowires photoelectrochemical CO₂ reduction activity

Chem Commun (Camb). 2023 May 11;59(39):5914-5917. doi: 10.1039/d3cc00825h.

Authors

Yanfang Zhang¹, Weixin Qiu¹, Yang Liu¹, Keke Wang¹, Luwei Zou², Yu Zhou², Min Liu², Xiaoqing Qiu¹, Jie Li¹, Wenzhang Li^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China. liwenzhang@csu.edu.cn.
² School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
³ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Power Sources, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.

PMID: 37170969
DOI: 10.1039/d3cc00825h

Abstract

The limited mass transfer of CO₂ and the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) during photoelectrochemical (PEC) CO₂ reduction usually result in low CO₂ reduction activity. Here, we constructed a Cu₂O/Sn/PTFE photocathode with a hydrophobic surface based on Cu₂O by physical vapor deposition and a dipping method. The CO faradaic efficiency (FE) increased from 34.5% (Cu₂O) to 95.1% (Cu₂O/Sn/PTFE) at -0.7 V vs. RHE, and the FE_H2 decreased from 27.9% (Cu₂O) to 3.8% (Cu₂O/Sn/PTFE). The introduction of the hydrophobic layer enhances the local CO₂ concentration on the electrode surface and effectively isolates H⁺ from the aqueous electrolyte, thereby enhancing the CO₂ reduction activity.