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Hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol functionalized copper catalyst promotes robust high-current CO2 gas-diffusion electrolysis

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Abstract

The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 presents a promising strategy in addressing environmental and energy crisis. Significant progress has been achieved via CO2 gas diffusion electrolysis, to react at high selectivity and high rate. However, the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) still suffers from low tolerance and limited active sites. Here, the hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol molecular was functionalized over the Cu catalyst layer of the GDE, which simultaneously stabilizes the GDL and exposes abundant active solid-liquid-gas three-phase interfaces. The resultant GDE exhibits multi-carbon (C2+) product selectivity over faradaic efficiency (FE) of 70.0% in the range of 100 to 800 mA·cm−2, with the peak FEC2+ of 85.2% at 800 mA·cm−2. Notably, the strengthened GDE could continuously drive high-current electrolysis for more than 100 h without flooding. This work opens a new way to improve CO2 gas diffusion electrolysis via surface molecular engineering.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51920105003), the National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 51725201), the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (No. E00014), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51902105 and 22072045), the Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hierarchical Nanomaterials (No. 18DZ2252400) and the Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 19YF1411600). The authors acknowledge the support by Shanghai Rising-star and Shuguang Programs (Nos. 20QA1402400 and 17SG30), and the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning. Additional support was provided by the Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center. The authors thank the Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry. The authors also thank the crew of the 1W1B beamline of Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) for their constructive assistance with the XAFS measurements and data analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hierarchical Nanomaterials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Liangyao Xue, Xuefeng Wu, Yuanwei Liu, Pengfei Liu & Huagui Yang

  2. Physics Department and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, School of Physics and Materials Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Beibei Xu & Xuelu Wang

  3. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Sheng Dai

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  1. Liangyao Xue
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Correspondence to Sheng Dai, Pengfei Liu or Huagui Yang.

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12274_2021_3675_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol functionalized copper catalyst promotes robust high-current CO2 gas-diffusion electrolysis

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Xue, L., Wu, X., Liu, Y. et al. Hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol functionalized copper catalyst promotes robust high-current CO2 gas-diffusion electrolysis. Nano Res. 15, 1393–1398 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3675-6

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