Interfacial Electric Field Sharping by Non‐Ionic Halogens Enables Selective CO <sub>2</sub> ‐to C <sub>2+</sub> Electroreduction
ABSTRACT Halide ions are widely employed to accelerate the electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), but their practical application is hampered by site blocking and electrode corrosion. Here we present an organic‐inorganic hybrid (OIH) strategy that embeds non‐ionic halogenated molecules (C 8 H 17 X, X = Cl, Br, I) into the Cu 2 O matrix to shape interfacial electric fields. This design preserves the kinetic benefits of halides while eliminating instability from ionic incorporation. The optimized C 8 H 17 Cl‐Cu 2 O OIHs delivers an outstanding C 2+ Faradaic efficiency of 80.6% with a partial current density of 161.2 mA cm −2 . Spectroscopic and theoretical analyses reveal that non‐ionic halogens act as molecular “field shapers,” generating strong interfacial electric fields that strengthen *CO adsorption and balance atop/bridge configurations. This tailored *CO landscape promotes efficient C–C coupling by simultaneously increasing coverage and dimerization kinetics. Our findings establish non‐ionic halogen modifiers as a robust platform for stabilizing and steering interfacial electric fields in CO 2 RR, offering a general strategy for designing selective and durable electrocatalysts.
Authors
- Chengsi Pan
- Dongge Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1451-004X)
- Hongwen Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3967-6182)
- Bingling He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3269-146X)
- Yongfa Zhu
- Jing Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5558-6908)
- Ying Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4650-9446)
- Ying Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3723-9851)
- Jiawei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9202-0070)
- Yang Lou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4227-4352)
- Guo Ming-hua
- Kaige Zhai
- Yao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1690-0738)
- Jing Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4076-4083)
Institutions
- Jiangnan University (CN)
- Ministry of Education and Child Care (CA)
- Chaohu University (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Energy Materials
- Published
- 2025-11-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202505385
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.36