Cu‐MOFs Derived Porous Cu Nanoribbons with Strengthened Electric Field for Selective CO₂ Electroreduction to C₂₊ Fuels

Abstract

The electroreduction of carbon dioxide is a promising strategy to synthesize value‐added feedstocks and realize carbon neutralization. Copper catalysts are well‐known to be active for selective electroreduction of CO2 to multicarbon products, although the role played by the surface architecture is not fully understood. Herein, mesoporous Cu nanoribbons are constructed via in‐situ electrochemical reduction of Cu based metal organic frameworks for the highly selective synthesis of C2+ chemicals. With the mesoporous structure, a high C2+ Faradaic efficiency of 82.3% with a partial current density of 347.9 mA cm−2 is achieved in a flow‐cell electrolyzer. Controlled electroreduction of CO2 with Cu nanoribbons exhibited clearly greater selectivity towards C2+ products than Cu nanoleaves and Cu nanorods without porous structures. Finite difference time domain results indicate that the mesoporous structure can enhance the electric field on the catalyst surface, which increases the concentration of K+ and OH−, thus allowing the authors to promote CO2 reduction pathways towards C2+ products.

Development of catalysts and electrolyzers toward industrial-scale CO2electroreduction

“…7b). Yang et al 124 prepared mesoporous Cu nanoribbons The chemical state of Cu is another important parameter for the CO 2 RR to C 2+ products. During the electroreduction process, the electrodes tend to be reduced to Cu 0 , regardless of the initial states.…”

“…7b). Yang et al 124 prepared mesoporous Cu nanoribbons via in situ electrochemical reduction of Cu-MOFs. The mesoporous structure of Cu nanoribbons could concentrate OH − on the surface, which increased the local pH and led to improved selectivity of C 2+ products.…”

Boosting the Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Reaction by Nanostructured Metal Materials via Defects Engineering

“…The pore structure can be clearly seen in HAADF–STEM images, due to the porous sites having a darker contrast because of the fewer atoms. For example, Yang et al reported the construction of mesoporous Cu nanoribbons by in situ electrochemical reduction of Cu–based metal organic frameworks [ 57 ]. The HAADF–STEM image revealed that a high density of mesopores was distributed throughout the whole of nanoribbons ( Figure 5 a) as there were many dark pores on the bright Cu nanoribbons.…”

“…( b ) The corresponding intensity profile along the lines that marked by numbers 1 and 2 with yellow color in ( a ). Reproduced with permission [ 57 ]. Copyright 2021, Wiley–VCH.…”

Rational Manipulation of Intermediates on Copper for CO2 Electroreduction Toward Multicarbon Products

“…In their work, the cations were concentrated around the sharp tip, leading to an increased local concentration of CO 2 near the active surface for CO 2 RR. The electric field-induced effect on the concentration of reagents around the tips was also analyzed using kinetic simulations, indicating that the electric field-induced aggregation effect can provide additional CO 2 for improving the CO 2 RR performance [134,135]. Recently, Liu's group [136,137] also reported that the high electric field created locally by high-curvature Cu nanoneedle (Cu NN) arrays can optimize *CO adsorption and reduce C−C coupling energy barriers (Fig.…”