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Multi-shelled CuO microboxes for carbon dioxide reduction to ethylene

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Abstract

The electroreduction of CO2 to valuable chemicals and fuels offers an effective mean for energy storage. Although CO2 has been efficiently converted into C1 products (e.g., carbon monoxide, formic acid, methane and methanol), its convention into high value-added multicarbon hydrocarbons with high selectivity and activity still remains challenging. Here we demonstrate the formation of multi-shelled CuO microboxes for the efficient and selective electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to C2H4. Such a structure favors the accessibility of catalytically active sites, improves adsorption of reaction intermediate (CO), inhibits the diffusion of produced OH− and promotes C—C coupling reaction. Owing to these unique advantages, the multi-shelled CuO microboxes can effectively convert CO2 into C2H4 with a maximum faradaic efficiency of 51.3% in 0.1 M K2SO4. This work provides an effective way to improve CO2 reduction efficiency via constructing micro- and nanostructures of electrocatalysts.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the financial supports from Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2017YFA0403003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21525316 and 21673254), Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. QYZDY-SSW-SLH013) and Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (No. Z191100007219009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid, Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Dongxing Tan, Jianling Zhang, Xiuniang Tan, Xiuyan Cheng, Qiang Wan & Buxing Han

  2. School of Chemical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Dongxing Tan, Jianling Zhang, Xiuniang Tan, Xiuyan Cheng, Qiang Wan & Buxing Han

  3. Physical Science Laboratory, Huairou National Comprehensive Science Center, Beijing, 101400, China

    Jianling Zhang & Buxing Han

  4. Beijng Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF), Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lei Yao, Lirong Zheng & Jing Zhang

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  1. Dongxing Tan
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  2. Jianling Zhang
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Correspondence to Jianling Zhang.

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Tan, D., Zhang, J., Yao, L. et al. Multi-shelled CuO microboxes for carbon dioxide reduction to ethylene. Nano Res. 13, 768–774 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2692-1

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