A tandem effect of atomically isolated copper-nitrogen sites and copper clusters enhances CO2 electroreduction to ethylene

Direct electrochemical conversion of CO2 to C2H4 with high selectivity is highly desirable for lowering CO2 emissions. However, limited by the slow *CO dimerization step at a single active site, it is difficult for current electrocatalysts to further improve the selectivity toward C2H4. Here we report a tandem catalyst PDI-Cu/Cu with Cu-N sites and Cu clusters, synthesized by uniformly dispersing Cu clusters on a coordination polymer PDI-Cu, which has atomically isolated Cu-N sites. This tandem catalyst, which has an optimal content of Cu clusters, shows more than 2 times the enhancement in C2H4 production compared with that of the non-tandem catalyst PDI/Cu. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support the tandem reaction mechanism, where Cu-N sites first reduce CO2 into highly concentrated CO and then the CO migrates to the surfaces of Cu clusters for further conversion into C2H4, decoupling the complex C2H4 generation pathway at single active sites into a two-step tandem reaction. This work offers a rational approach to design electrocatalysts for further boosting the selectivity of the CO2RR to C2+ products via a tandem route.

Automated summary

In this study, a tandem catalyst PDI-Cu/Cu with atomically isolated Cu-N sites and Cu clusters was synthesized, which showed more than 2 times the enhancement in C2H4 production compared with the non-tandem catalyst PDI/Cu. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations supported the tandem reaction mechanism, where Cu-N sites first reduced CO2 into highly concentrated CO and then CO migrated to the surfaces of Cu clusters for further conversion into C2H4, decoupling the complex C2H4 generation pathway at single active sites into a two-step tandem reaction. This work offers a rational approach to design electrocatalysts for boosting the selectivity of the CO2RR to C2+ products via a tandem route.