Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Guided Interfacial Water Engineering for Selective CO <sub>2</sub> ‐to‐C <sub>2+</sub> Conversion at Industrial Current Densities

Abstract The electroreduction of CO 2 to multi‐carbon (C 2+ ) products offers a sustainable route for chemicals production. However, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), especially at high current densities where proton transport dominates, remains a major challenge to achieving high C 2+ selectivity. In this study, an interfacial water engineering strategy guided by hydrogen bonding is reported to construct a dual‐functional Cu‐based catalyst that simultaneously enhances C 2+ selectivity and suppresses HER. By co‐assembling cobalt tetraaminated phthalocyanine (CoTAPc) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) onto Cu surface, a hydrophobic, hydrogen‐bond‐rich microenvironment is formed. This interfacial network reorganizes water molecules into spatially confined clusters, enabling directional proton transport and accelerating water dissociation. Such dual modulation of CO 2 availability and proton dynamic effectively decouples C─C coupling from HER, leading to selective C 2+ formation. The resulting CoTAPc/Cu catalyst exhibits a C 2+ Faraday efficiency (FE) of 90.7% with only 3.5% H 2 FE at 1.1 A cm −2 . Moreover, it maintains 81% C 2+ selectivity at 30 A in a 100 cm 2 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer. Operando spectroscopic analyses and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that CoTAPc‐PFSA interface lowers the *CO dimerization barrier while facilitating water dissociation and increasing *H adsorption energy, thus suppressing HER and enabling efficient CO 2 conversion.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2025-07-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202509330
Citations
8
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.91

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article

Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Guided Interfacial Water Engineering for Selective CO 2 ‐to‐C 2+ Conversion at Industrial Current Densities

Wenxiu Jiang, Zewen Wang, Mingwei Fang, Ying Zhu et al.
8 citations
Advanced Functional Materials
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
2.91
article

Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Guided Interfacial Water Engineering for Selective CO 2 ‐to‐C 2+ Conversion at Industrial Current Densities

Wenxiu Jiang, Zewen Wang, Mingwei Fang, Ying Zhu, Lei Jiang, Zihao Huang, Meiling Wang, Rong Zhang, Xiaochen Feng
article en
8 citations

Abstract

Abstract The electroreduction of CO 2 to multi‐carbon (C 2+ ) products offers a sustainable route for chemicals production. However, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), especially at high current densities where proton transport dominates, remains a major challenge to achieving high C 2+ selectivity. In this study, an interfacial water engineering strategy guided by hydrogen bonding is reported to construct a dual‐functional Cu‐based catalyst that simultaneously enhances C 2+ selectivity and suppresses HER. By co‐assembling cobalt tetraaminated phthalocyanine (CoTAPc) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) onto Cu surface, a hydrophobic, hydrogen‐bond‐rich microenvironment is formed. This interfacial network reorganizes water molecules into spatially confined clusters, enabling directional proton transport and accelerating water dissociation. Such dual modulation of CO 2 availability and proton dynamic effectively decouples C─C coupling from HER, leading to selective C 2+ formation. The resulting CoTAPc/Cu catalyst exhibits a C 2+ Faraday efficiency (FE) of 90.7% with only 3.5% H 2 FE at 1.1 A cm −2 . Moreover, it maintains 81% C 2+ selectivity at 30 A in a 100 cm 2 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer. Operando spectroscopic analyses and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that CoTAPc‐PFSA interface lowers the *CO dimerization barrier while facilitating water dissociation and increasing *H adsorption energy, thus suppressing HER and enabling efficient CO 2 conversion.

Advanced Functional MaterialsVol. 36(1)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (CN), Beihang University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beihang University, Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
2.91
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