A scalable method for preparing Cu electrocatalysts that convert CO2 into C2+ products

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 3622
• Main Authors: Kim, Taehee, Palmore, G. Tayhas R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 17-07-2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/146; 147/28; 639/166/898; 639/638/77/886; 704/172/169/824; Aqueous solutions; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sequestration; Catalysts; Chemical reactions; Conversion; Copper; Copper chloride; Copper converters; Density; Electrocatalysts; Halogenation; Humanities and Social Sciences; Intermediates; Metal foils; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Potassium chloride; Reduction; Roughness; Scanning electron microscopy; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Selectivity; Surface defects; X-ray diffraction; X-ray spectroscopy
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16998-9

Development of efficient catalysts for selective electroreduction of CO
2
to high-value products is essential for the deployment of carbon utilization technologies. Here we present a scalable method for preparing Cu electrocatalysts that favor CO
2
conversion to C
2+
products with faradaic efficiencies up to 72%. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction data confirms that anodic halogenation of electropolished Cu foils in aqueous solutions of KCl, KBr, or KI creates surfaces of CuCl, CuBr, or CuI, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy studies show that significant changes to the morphology of Cu occur during anodic halogenation and subsequent oxide-formation and reduction, resulting in catalysts with a high density of defect sites but relatively low roughness. This work shows that efficient conversion of CO
2
to C
2+
products requires a Cu catalyst with a high density of defect sites that promote adsorption of carbon intermediates and C–C coupling reactions while minimizing roughness.
Selective reduction of carbon dioxide to high-value products is key for advancing carbon capture and utilization technologies. Here the authors prepare a copper catalyst for electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to C
2+
products with enhanced selectivity that is attributed to a high density of surface defects.