Synergistic Catalysis Induced by Zn‐Doping for Steering CO <sub>2</sub> Electroreduction Pathway Toward Ethanol on Cu Catalyst

Electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) offers a promising route for sustainable fuel production, yet, improving selectivity toward ethanol remains a great challenge. Here, we report a CuZn bimetallic catalyst with high-index step sites that achieves an ethanol Faradaic efficiency of 46% and stable operation for 100 h at a current density of ∼600 mA cm<sup>-</sup> <sup>2</sup>. Zn-doping does not only modulate the electronic structure of Cu, but also promotes the formation of high-index step sites. Thorough in situ spectroscopic characterizations and density functional theory calculations indicate that this dual effect enables asymmetric <sup>*</sup>CO adsorption in both bridge and atop configurations, thus facilitating C-C coupling and stabilizing the <sup>*</sup>CHCOH intermediate toward ethanol formation. Our findings highlight the synergistic role of electronic tuning and crystal facet engineering in developing efficient CO<sub>2</sub>RR catalysts with enhanced ethanol selectivity.

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Publication Details

Journal
Small
Published
2025-12-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202513647
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Synergistic Catalysis Induced by Zn‐Doping for Steering CO 2 Electroreduction Pathway Toward Ethanol on Cu Catalyst

Leijie Zhang, Yipeng Zang, Yanwei Lum, Dunfeng Gao et al.
Small
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
article

Synergistic Catalysis Induced by Zn‐Doping for Steering CO 2 Electroreduction Pathway Toward Ethanol on Cu Catalyst

Leijie Zhang, Yipeng Zang, Yanwei Lum, Dunfeng Gao, Pengfei Ou, Yan Liu
article en

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) offers a promising route for sustainable fuel production, yet, improving selectivity toward ethanol remains a great challenge. Here, we report a CuZn bimetallic catalyst with high-index step sites that achieves an ethanol Faradaic efficiency of 46% and stable operation for 100 h at a current density of ∼600 mA cm<sup>-</sup> <sup>2</sup>. Zn-doping does not only modulate the electronic structure of Cu, but also promotes the formation of high-index step sites. Thorough in situ spectroscopic characterizations and density functional theory calculations indicate that this dual effect enables asymmetric <sup>*</sup>CO adsorption in both bridge and atop configurations, thus facilitating C-C coupling and stabilizing the <sup>*</sup>CHCOH intermediate toward ethanol formation. Our findings highlight the synergistic role of electronic tuning and crystal facet engineering in developing efficient CO<sub>2</sub>RR catalysts with enhanced ethanol selectivity.

SmallVol. 22(11)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG), National University of Singapore (SG), Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (SG), IS Instruments (United Kingdom) (GB)
National Research Foundation, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, National University of Singapore, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program, Yulin University, National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy
Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 51%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
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