Identifying an Interfacial Stabilizer for Regeneration-Free 300 h Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to C2 Products

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to produce high value-added hydrocarbons and oxygenates presents a sustainable and compelling approach toward a carbon-neutral society. However, uncontrollable migration of active sites during the electrochemical CO2RR limits its catalytic ability to simultaneously achieve high C2 selectivity and ultra -durability. Here, we demonstrate that the generated interfacial CuAlO2 species can efficiently stabilize the highly active sites over the Cu-CuAlO2-Al2O3 catalyst under harsh electrochemical conditions without active sites regeneration for a long-term test. We show that this unique Cu-CuAlO2-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits ultradurable electrochemical CO2RR performance with an 85% C2 Faradaic efficiency for a 300 h test. Such a simple interfacial engineering design approach unveiled in this work would be adaptable to develop various ultradurable catalysts for industrial-scale electrochemical CO2RR.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that the interfacial CuAlO2 species efficiently stabilizes highly active sites on the Cu-CuAlO2-Al2O3 catalyst during harsh electrochemical conditions, leading to an ultradurable electrochemical CO2RR performance with high C2 selectivity.