Insights on Dual‐Functional Ionic Liquid Interfacial Layer for Efficient CO 2 Electroreduction to C 2+ Products in Acid
ABSTRACT Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) in acidic electrolyte is hindered by severe hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and inefficient C–C coupling, leading to poor selectivity toward multicarbon (C 2+ ) products. Here, we construct a dual‐functional interfacial layer by modifying a CuO catalyst with the ionic liquid choline triazole ([Cho][Triz]). This interfacial layer simultaneously regulates the active hydrogen (*H) supply pathway to suppress HER and stabilizes key C–C coupling intermediates, thereby promoting C 2+ product formation. Comprehensive in situ spectroscopic characterizations and theoretical simulations reveal that the ionic liquid interfacial layer disrupts the continuous hydrogen‐bond network of interfacial water, suppresses hydronium (H 3 O + ) transport from the bulk electrolyte, and accelerates water dissociation to generate *H species, thereby promoting intermediate hydrogenation and inhibiting HER. Meanwhile, the hydroxyl groups in the ionic liquid stabilize the *CHO intermediate and facilitate the energetically favorable asymmetric *CHO–*CO coupling pathway. Benefiting from this dual‐functional regulation, the [Cho][Triz]‐modified CuO catalyst delivers a C 2+ Faradaic efficiency of 81.1% at 800 mA cm −2 in 1 M KCl/0.05 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte. Notably, the Faradaic efficiency of ethanol is approximately 2.2 times higher than that of CuO.
Authors
- Qizhou Xue
- Xiangping Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1431-0873)
- Shaojuan Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0070-6711)
- Jiaqi Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6212-6755)
- bingyu li
- Aofei Cheng
- Xuejing Zhen
- Jiaxin Cheng
- Min Wang
- Yanlin Wang
Institutions
- China University of Petroleum, Beijing (CN)
- Institute of Process Engineering (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2026-09-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.7683916
- Primary Topic
- CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00