CO Spillover‐Induced Directed C─C Coupling for CO <sub>2</sub> Electroreduction to Multicarbon Products
ABSTRACT Efficient CO 2 ‐to‐multicarbon (C 2+ ) electroconversion is constrained by sluggish C─C coupling kinetics dependent on adsorbed *CO availability. We demonstrate that direct interfacial *CO spillover across metal‐metal junctions, replacing conventional tandem CO diffusion, governs C 2+ formation on multicomponent Cu‐based catalysts. By engineering CuM (M = Ag, Pd) interfaces with tuned CO‐binding strengths, we establish a quantitative scaling relationship between the *CO spillover rate and C 2+ partial current density. The optimized Cu@Ag catalyst promotes rapid *CO transfer from Ag to adjacent Cu sites, lowering the C─C coupling barrier and achieving ∼90% C 2+ Faradaic efficiency at 600 mA cm −2 in a flow cell. Crucially, cyclic voltammetry under CO and operando attenuated total reflectance surface‐enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy directly capture dynamic *CO migration and the emergence of *COCHO intermediates, providing explicit experimental evidence for spillover‐driven C─C coupling beyond a conceptual model. These results elevate *CO spillover from a qualitative hypothesis to a measurable design descriptor for building multi‐site interfaces toward efficient, selective, and scalable CO 2 ‐to‐C 2+ electroconversion.
Authors
- Jonathan Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3003-6114)
- Huiyan Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0359-5756)
- Zhaolong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4828-6493)
- Shu Ping Lau
- Xingwang Zhu
- Yue Guo
- Xiaojie She
Institutions
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Yangzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Energy Materials
- Published
- 2026-02-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202506792
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China