Localized Alkaline Environment via In Situ Electrostatic Confinement for Enhanced CO 2 -to-Ethylene Conversion in Neutral Medium

作者：Zihong Wang, Yecheng Li, Xin Zhao, Shunqiang Chen, Qingshun Nian, Xuan Luo, Jiajia Fan, Digen Ruan, Bingqing Xiong, Xiaodi Ren · 发表于：Journal of the American Chemical Society · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1021/jacs.2c13384 · 被引用次数：291 · 研究领域：CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts、Ionic liquids properties and applications、Covalent Organic Framework Applications

Electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) is one of the most promising routes to facilitate carbon neutrality. An alkaline electrolyte is typically needed to promote the production of valuable multi-carbon molecules (such as ethylene). However, the reaction between CO 2 and OH – consumes a significant quantity of CO 2 /alkali and causes the rapid decay of CO 2 RR selectivity and stability. Here, we design a catalyst–electrolyte interface with an effective electrostatic confinement of in situ generated OH – to improve ethylene electrosynthesis from CO 2 in neutral medium. In situ Raman measurements indicate the direct correlation between ethylene selectivity and the intensities of surface Cu–CO and Cu–OH species, suggesting the promoted C–C coupling with the surface enrichment of OH – . Thus, we report a CO 2 -to-ethylene Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 70% and a partial current density of 350 mA cm –2 at −0.89 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, the system demonstrated a 50 h stable operation at 300 mA cm –2 with an average ethylene FE of ∼68%. This study offers a universal strategy to tune the reaction micro-environment, and a significantly improved ethylene FE of 64.5% was obtained even in acidic electrolytes (pH = 2).