Solid Solution In Situ‐Reconstructed Mg‐Cu <sub>2</sub> O/Cu Heterointerface for CO <sub>2</sub> Reduction to C <sub>2+</sub> Alcohols in Neutral and Acidic Media
Electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> reduction presents a sustainable route for producing value-added liquid C<sub>2+</sub> alcohols. Using neutral and acidic media enables high CO<sub>2</sub> utilization, but suffers low C<sub>2+</sub> alcohols selectivity and production rate, due to high energy barrier of C─C coupling and competing C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> pathway on conventional Cu catalysts. Herein, we report porous Mg-stabilized Cu<sub>2</sub>O/metallic Cu (Mg-Cu<sub>2</sub>O/Cu) heterointerface, in situ reconstructed from block copolymer-derived mesoporous MgCuO solid solution under operating CO<sub>2</sub> reduction conditions, that realizes extraordinary neutral and acidic CO<sub>2</sub>-to-C<sub>2+</sub> alcohols performance. In situ spectroscopic and computational investigations disclose that Mg-Cu<sub>2</sub>O/Cu heterointerface facilitates *CO hydrogenation and triggers energy-favorable asymmetric *CO─CHO coupling, distinctive to energy-intensive symmetric *CO─CO dimerization catalyzed by bare CuO-derived Cu surface. More importantly, the heterostructure modulates bonding strength of key C<sub>2+</sub> intermediate with enhanced O─C yet weakened Cu─O bonds, switching selectivity from C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> on Cu to C<sub>2+</sub> alcohols on Mg-Cu<sub>2</sub>O/Cu. Along with porous architecture affording abundant accessible sites, we achieve remarkable Faradaic efficiencies of 70.4% at an industrial current density of 448.7 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> in neutral electrolyte and 61.4% at 316.1 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> in acid for C<sub>2+</sub> alcohols, placing among the highest levels reported hitherto. This work provides a general catalyst design framework for steering reaction pathways in practical CO<sub>2</sub> electrolysis.
Authors
- Haoyang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8102-5917)
- Kai‐Jie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7581-6571)
- Fuping Pan
- Jian Cai
- Ting Wang
Institutions
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2026-02-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.8293761
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00