CO2 electrolysis to multi-carbon products in strong acid at ampere-current levels on La-Cu spheres with channels

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 4821 - 11
• Main Authors: Feng, Jiaqi, Wu, Limin, Song, Xinning, Zhang, Libing, Jia, Shunhan, Ma, Xiaodong, Tan, Xingxing, Kang, Xinchen, Zhu, Qinggong, Sun, Xiaofu, Han, Buxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.06.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/131; 140/133; 140/146; 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299/886; 639/638/224/685; 639/638/77/886; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Channels; Chemical reduction; Current density; Doping; Electrochemistry; Electrolysis; Electrolytes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen evolution; Microenvironments; Modulation; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49308-8

Achieving satisfactory multi-carbon (C 2+ ) products selectivity and current density under acidic condition is a key issue for practical application of electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), but is challenging. Herein, we demonstrate that combining microenvironment modulation by porous channel structure and intrinsic catalytic activity enhancement via doping effect could promote efficient CO 2 RR toward C 2+ products in acidic electrolyte (pH ≤ 1). The La-doped Cu hollow sphere with channels exhibits a C 2+ products Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 86.2% with a partial current density of −775.8 mA cm −2 . CO 2 single-pass conversion efficiency for C 2+ products can reach 52.8% at −900 mA cm −2 . Moreover, the catalyst still maintains a high C 2+ FE of 81.3% at −1 A cm −2 . The channel structure plays a crucial role in accumulating K + and OH - species near the catalyst surface and within the channels, which effectively suppresses the undesired hydrogen evolution and promotes C–C coupling. Additionally, the La doping enhances the generation of *CO intermediate, and also facilitates C 2+ products formation. Efficient electroreduction of CO2 to multi-carbon products under strong acidic condition is highly challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate that combining microenvironment modulation and La doping effect could promote multicarbon products generation in acidic electrolyte.