Do Cu Substrates Participate in Bi Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction?

Bi based electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction have recently attracted much research attention. Although Cu substrates were mainly used in these material investigations, whether the Cu substrates act as the CO2 reduction electrocatalysts is questionable, and yet disregarded. Herein to comprehensively investigate the influence of Cu substrate on the electrochemical performance, we electro-deposited Bi catalysts on Cu foams. It was found that during the whole process, the morphology and composition of Bi/Cu electrocatalysts varied, indicating that Cu acted as not only the electrode substrates but also the active materials for CO2 reduction. After optimization, Bi/Cu materials achieved high activity of 59.7 mA cm(-2) and selectivity of 95% for CO2 converted formate. Our work provides experimental evidence for the material design and optimization of Bi-based materials for CO2 reduction.

Automated summary

Through the electro-deposition of Bi catalysts on Cu foams, it was found that Cu not only acted as the electrode substrates, but also the active materials for CO2 reduction.