Porous Copper Microspheres for Selective Production of Multicarbon Fuels via CO2 Electroreduction

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 15; no. 42; pp. e1902582 - n/a
• Main Authors: Zou, Chengqin, Xi, Cong, Wu, Deyao, Mao, Jing, Liu, Min, Liu, Hui, Dong, Cunku, Du, Xi‐Wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.10.2019
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; carbon dioxide electroreduction; Chemical synthesis; coordination number; Coordination numbers; Copper; Electrowinning; Environmental impact; Fuels; Microspheres; multicarbon fuels; Nanotechnology; Organic chemistry; porous copper microspheres
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201902582

The electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) toward high‐value fuels can reduce the carbon footprint and store intermittent renewable energy. The iodide‐ion‐assisted synthesis of porous copper (P‐Cu) microspheres with a moderate coordination number of 7.7, which is beneficial for the selective electroreduction of CO2 into multicarbon (C2+) chemicals is reported. P‐Cu delivers a C2+ Faradaic efficiency of 78 ± 1% at a potential of −1.1 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, which is 32% higher than that of the compact Cu counterpart and approaches the record (79%) reported in the same cell configuration. In addition, P‐Cu shows good stability without performance loss throughout a continuous operation of 10 h. Porous copper microspheres with an average coordination number of 7.7 are synthesized via electrical reduction of Cu2O microspheres in an aqueous solution of KI. As the catalyst for electroreduction of carbon dioxides, porous copper microspheres deliver a high multicarbon Faradaic efficiency at rather low applied voltages as well as long‐term durability.