Journal
NANO LETTERS
Volume 17, Issue 2, Pages 1312-1317Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b05287
Keywords
5-fold twinned nanowires; carbon dioxide reduction; electrocatalysis; selectivity; graphene oxide; morphological evolution
Categories
Funding
- Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231, CH030201]
- Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Samsung Scholarship
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Copper is uniquely active for the electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to products beyond carbon monoxide, such as methane (CH4) and ethylene (C2H4). Therefore, understanding selectivity trends for CO2, electrocatalysis on copper surfaces is critical for developing more efficient catalysts for CO2, conversion to higher order products. Herein, we investigate the electrocatalytic activity of ultrathin (diameter similar to 20 nm) 5-fold twinned copper nanowires (Cu NWs) for CO2, reduction. These Cu NW catalysts were found to exhibit high CH4 selectivity over other carbon products, reaching 55% Faradaic efficiency (FE) at -1.25 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode while other products were produced with less than 5% FE. This selectivity was found to be sensitive to morphological changes in the nanowire catalyst observed over the course of electrolysis. Wrapping the wires with graphene oxide was found to be a successful strategy for preserving both the morphology and reaction selectivity of the Cu NW's. These results suggest that product selectivity on Cu NWs is highly dependent on morphological features and that hydrocarbon selectivity can be manipulated by structural evolution or the prevention thereof.
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