Identifying Intermediates in CO <sub>2</sub> -to-C <sub>2</sub> H <sub>4</sub> Electrochemical Reduction by In Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Production of value-added C 2+ products is an important topic in the research of electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR), and in situ spectroscopy identifies key intermediates and provides important details for a deeper understanding of the reaction mechanism. Applying a “borrowing” surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) strategy, core-shell Au@Cu 2 O nanocatalysts with different shell thickness were used to probe the CO 2 RR pathways on the surface of Cu 2 O in both neutral (KHCO 3 + KCl) and alkaline (KOH) electrolytes. In situ Raman spectroscopic measurements showed that the SERS effect occurs at the apparent shell thicknesses of up to 100 nm. Comparative analysis uncovers the correlation between low-frequency-binding (LFB) and high-frequency-binding (HFB) *CO intermediates and electrochemical selectivity. A higher *CO LFB /*CO HFB ratio favors the generation of C 2 H 4, while abundant *CO HFB leads to predominant CO formation.
Authors
- Fengqian Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2330-6403)
- Teng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3736-4185)
- Wenwen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2658-9434)
- Meng-Jiao Sun
Institutions
- Fujian Normal University (CN)
- Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2026-07-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6c03703
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China