Chlorine‐dopant dynamically stabilizes Cu<sup>0</sup>/Cu<sup>+</sup> active sites for selective <scp>CO<sub>2</sub></scp> electroreduction to multicarbon products
Abstract The electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) to multicarbon (C 2+ ) products faces significant challenges rooted in the high energy barriers of C–C coupling, which can be addressed through dopant‐mediated stabilization of Cu + species on Cu catalysts. Here, we present an in‐situ chlorine (Cl) doping strategy achieving dynamic stabilization of Cu 0 /Cu + active sites, consequently resulting in an improved selectivity for C 2+ product with a partial current density of 280 mA cm −2 . In‐situ x‐ray diffraction (XRD) and ex‐situ x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses confirmed sustained Cu + species and Cl dopant retention throughout CO 2 RR operation and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) durability assessment (over 55 h). Theoretical study demonstrated that Cl‐dopant could extract electrons from Cu during CO 2 RR to dynamically produce Cu 0 /Cu + active sites to lower the free energy toward CO 2 RR and improve the adsorption of *CO and *CHO intermediates, which is key for the CC coupling. Our findings demonstrate that Cl‐dopant serves as an efficient electron extractor for generating Cu + species, thereby emphasizing the efficacy of the in‐situ doping strategy in creating a high density of stable interfacial Cu 0 /Cu + active sites.
Authors
- Chunzhong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7897-5850)
- Yongjun Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8768-1958)
- Xiaoqing Mao
- Zhongliang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7279-0150)
- Pingzhang Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8612-3928)
- Jialin Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5919-8849)
- Shi‐Zhong Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9979-4469)
- Zhongyuan Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2406-3877)
- Tingting Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0375-3230)
- Huihui Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7781-1501)
- Hao Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7577-1366)
- Yingfang Jiang
Institutions
- East China University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Advanced Institute of Materials Science (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- AIChE Journal
- Published
- 2025-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.18934
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality