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Electrochemical CO2 reduction to C2+ products over Cu/Zn intermetallic catalysts synthesized by electrodeposition

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  • Special Column: Toward Carbon Neutrality by Artificial Photosynthesis
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Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction (ECR) offers an attractive approach to realizing carbon neutrality and producing valuable chemicals and fuels using CO2 as the feedstock. However, the lack of cost-effective electrocatalysts with better performances has seriously hindered its application. Herein, a one-step co-electrodeposition method was used to introduce Zn, a metal with weak *CO binding energy, into Cu to form Cu/Zn intermetallic catalysts (Cu/Zn IMCs). It was shown that, using an H-cell, the high Faradaic efficiency of C2+ hydrocarbons/alcohols \(({\rm{F}}{{\rm{E}}_{{{\rm{C}}_{2 + }}}})\) could be achieved in ECR by adjusting the surface metal components and the applied potential. In suitable conditions, FEC2+ and current density could be as high as 75% and 40 mA/cm2, respectively. Compared with the Cu catalyst, the Cu/Zn IMCs have a lower interfacial charge transfer resistance and a larger electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), which accelerate the reaction. Moreover, the *CO formed on Zn sites can move to Cu sites due to its weak binding with *CO, and thus enhance the C–C coupling on the Cu surface to form C2+ products.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFA0710201), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M731096), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 22022307, 22121002, and 21890761), and the Research Funds of Happiness Flower ECNU (Grant No. 2020ST2203).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Ting Deng, Shuaiqiang Jia, Shitao Han, Jianxin Zhai, Jiapeng Jiao, Xiao Chen, Cheng Xue, Wei Xia, Haihong Wu, Mingyuan He & Buxing Han

  2. Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 202162, China

    Ting Deng, Shuaiqiang Jia, Shitao Han, Jianxin Zhai, Jiapeng Jiao, Xiao Chen, Cheng Xue, Wei Xia, Haihong Wu, Mingyuan He & Buxing Han

  3. Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Xueqing Xing

  4. Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Buxing Han

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  1. Ting Deng
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Correspondence to Shuaiqiang Jia, Haihong Wu or Buxing Han.

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Deng, T., Jia, S., Han, S. et al. Electrochemical CO2 reduction to C2+ products over Cu/Zn intermetallic catalysts synthesized by electrodeposition. Front. Energy 18, 80–88 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-023-0898-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-023-0898-0

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