The in situ study of surface species and structures of oxide-derived copper catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction. Issue 16 (29th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Chunjun; Yan, Xupeng; Wu, Yahui; Liu, Shoujie; Sun, Xiaofu; Zhu, Qinggong; Feng, Rongjuan; Wu, Tianbin; Qian, Qingli; Liu, Huizhen; Zheng, Lirong; Zhang, Jing; Han, Buxing
• Is Part Of: Chemical science. Volume 12:Issue 16(2021)
• Page Start: 5938
• Page End: 5943
• Publication Date: 2021-03-29
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1039/d1sc00042j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-6520

Abstract

Abstract : CuO x species were shown to exist on OD-Cu during the CO2 RR, which resulted from the adsorption of preliminary intermediates (such as *CO2 and *OCO − ) on Cu instead of on the active sites of the catalyst. Abstract : Oxide-derived copper (OD-Cu) has been discovered to be an effective catalyst for the electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products. The structure of OD-Cu and its surface species during the reaction process are interesting topics, which have not yet been clearly discussed. Herein, in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and 18 O isotope labeling experiments were employed to investigate the surface species and structures of OD-Cu catalysts during CO2 electroreduction. It was found that the OD-Cu catalysts were reduced to metallic Cu(0) in the reaction. CuO x species existed on the catalyst surfaces during the CO2 RR, which resulted from the adsorption of preliminary intermediates (such as *CO2 and *OCO − ) on Cu instead of on the active sites of the catalyst. It was also found that abundant interfaces can be produced on OD-Cu, which can provide heterogeneous CO adsorption sites (strong binding sites and weak binding sites), leading to outstanding performance for obtaining C2+ products. The Faradaic efficiency (FE) for C2+ products reached as high as 83.8% with a current density of 341.5 mA cm −2 at −0.9 V vs. RHE.