Mesostructure‐Specific Configuration of *CO Adsorption for Selective CO<sub>2</sub> Electroreduction to C<sub>2+</sub> Products
Abstract The multi‐carbon (C 2+ ) alcohols produced by electrochemical CO 2 reduction, such as ethanol and n ‐propanol, are considered as indispensable liquid energy carriers. In most C−C coupling cases, however, the concomitant gaseous C 2 H 4 product results in the low selectivity of C 2+ alcohols. Here, we report rational construction of mesostructured CuO electrocatalysts, specifically mesoporous CuO (m‐CuO) and cylindrical CuO (c‐CuO), enables selective distribution of C 2+ products. The m‐CuO and c‐CuO show similar selectivity towards total C 2+ products (≥76 %), but the corresponding predominant products are C 2+ alcohols (55 %) and C 2 H 4 (52 %), respectively. The ordered mesostructure not only induces the surface hydrophobicity, but selectively tailors the adsorption configuration of *CO intermediate: m‐CuO prefers bridged adsorption, whereas c‐CuO favors top adsorption as revealed by in situ spectroscopies. Computational calculations unravel that bridged *CO adsorbate is prone to deep protonation into *OCH 3 intermediate, thus accelerating the coupling of *CO and *OCH 3 intermediates to generate C 2+ alcohols; by contrast, top *CO adsorbate is apt to undergo conventional C−C coupling process to produce C 2 H 4 . This work illustrates selective C 2+ products distribution via mesostructure manipulation, and paves a new path into the design of efficient electrocatalysts with tunable adsorption configuration of key intermediates for targeted products.
Authors
- Baibiao Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0416-944X)
- Difei Xiao
- Zaiqi Li
- Hefeng Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9135-8109)
- Ying Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4503-9828)
- Bin Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8635-3119)
- Zeyan Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0723-4956)
- Hongli Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9638-0578)
- Peng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-8104)
- Yuanyuan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6076-9733)
- Zhaoke Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1104-2583)
Institutions
- Shandong University (CN)
- University of Jinan (CN)
- Crystal Research (United States) (US)
- State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2024-09-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202413832
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.51
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China