Atomically Dispersed Scandium in Cuprous Oxide Weakens ^*CO Adsorption to Boost Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction Toward C₂ Products

Abstract Copper (Cu) is a promising metal for electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR) to value‐added C 2 products. However, as the key intermediate for C─C coupling to form C 2 products, * CO intermediate is difficult to adsorb on the Cu surface on a moderate level. Rare earth elements possess a distinctive electronic structure that effectively regulates the local density of surrounding atoms, yet has rarely been investigated. Herein, different rare earth metals are screened doping Cu 2 O and found that Sc atomically dispersed Cu 2 O can weaken the CO adsorption on the catalyst surface and lower the energy barrier of the C─C coupling step through in situ ATR‐SEIRAS and DFT calculations. Therefore, the as‐prepared Sc 0.09 ‐Cu 2 O catalyst presents improved eCO 2 RR to C 2 product performance with a faradic efficiency of 71.9% at a current density of 600 mA cm −2 .