Hydrophobic Layer-Modified Cu-PVDF Catalyst Inhibited Hydrogen Evolution under Wind Power Fluctuation To Promote Electrocatalytic Reaction of CO₂ to Methanol

To solve the problem that wind power fluctuations strengthened hydrogen evolution side reaction and reduced the Faraday efficiency of electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol, a layered Cu-PVDF catalyst that combined the external polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hydrophobic layer and internal nano-Cu catalyst was developed. The PVDF hydrophobic layer inhibited the process of H+ directly binding to produce H2, while the internal nano-Cu-doped carbon black particles enhanced the electrical conductivity, which promoted the combination of H+ and CO2 to produce methanol. The layered Cu-PVDF catalyst effectively balanced the electrical conductivity and the hydrogen evolution. Compared with the unmodified Cu catalyst, the hydrophobic layered Cu-PVDF catalyst significantly reduced the Faraday efficiency of hydrogen by 33.29% and increased that of methanol by 37.04%.