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Title: Switching CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity Between C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons on Cu Gas-Diffusion Electrodes

Abstract

We report that regulating the selectivity toward a target hydrocarbon product is still the focus of CO2 electroreduction. Here, we discover that the original surface Cu species in Cu gas-diffusion electrodes plays a more important role than the surface roughness, local pH, and facet in governing the selectivity toward C1 or C2 hydrocarbons. The selectivity toward C2H4 progressively increases, while CH4 decreases steadily upon lowering the Cu oxidation species fraction. At a relatively low electrodeposition voltage of 1.5 V, the Cu gas-diffusion electrode with the highest Cuδ+/Cu0 ratio favors the pathways of hydrogenation to form CH4 with maximum Faradaic efficiency of 65.4% and partial current density of 228 mA cm-2 at -0.83 V vs RHE. At 2.0 V, the Cu gas-diffusion electrode with the lowest Cuδ+/Cu0 ratio prefers C–C coupling to form C2+ products with Faradaic efficiency topping 80.1% at -0.75 V vs RHE, where the Faradaic efficiency of C2H4 accounts for 46.4% and the partial current density of C2H4 achieves 279 mA cm-2. This work demonstrates that the selectivity from CH4 to C2H4 is switchable by tuning surface Cu species composition of Cu gas-diffusion electrodes.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [5];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2]
  1. Hefei University of Technology (China); University of Cincinnati, OH (United States)
  2. University of Cincinnati, OH (United States)
  3. Hefei University of Technology (China)
  4. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Central Universities; Key R&D Projects of Anhui Province; Arizona State University
OSTI Identifier:
1890212
Report Number(s):
BNL-223518-2022-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2575-0356
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704; CBET-2033343; 52172293; 51772072; 51672065; JZ2021HGQB0282; PA2021GDSK0088; 202104b11020016; NNCI-ECCS-1542160
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy & Environmental Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2575-0356
Publisher:
Wiley - Zhengzhou University
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; CO2 electroreduction; electrodeposition; C2H4; CH4; switchable selectivity

Citation Formats

Zhang, Jianfang, Li, Zhengyuan Y., Cai, Rui, Zhang, Tianyu, Yang, Shize, Ma, Lu, Wang, Yan, Wu, Yucheng, and Wu, Jingjie J. Switching CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity Between C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons on Cu Gas-Diffusion Electrodes. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1002/eem2.12307.
Zhang, Jianfang, Li, Zhengyuan Y., Cai, Rui, Zhang, Tianyu, Yang, Shize, Ma, Lu, Wang, Yan, Wu, Yucheng, & Wu, Jingjie J. Switching CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity Between C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons on Cu Gas-Diffusion Electrodes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12307
Zhang, Jianfang, Li, Zhengyuan Y., Cai, Rui, Zhang, Tianyu, Yang, Shize, Ma, Lu, Wang, Yan, Wu, Yucheng, and Wu, Jingjie J. Tue . "Switching CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity Between C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons on Cu Gas-Diffusion Electrodes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12307. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1890212.
@article{osti_1890212,
title = {Switching CO2 Electroreduction Selectivity Between C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons on Cu Gas-Diffusion Electrodes},
author = {Zhang, Jianfang and Li, Zhengyuan Y. and Cai, Rui and Zhang, Tianyu and Yang, Shize and Ma, Lu and Wang, Yan and Wu, Yucheng and Wu, Jingjie J.},
abstractNote = {We report that regulating the selectivity toward a target hydrocarbon product is still the focus of CO2 electroreduction. Here, we discover that the original surface Cu species in Cu gas-diffusion electrodes plays a more important role than the surface roughness, local pH, and facet in governing the selectivity toward C1 or C2 hydrocarbons. The selectivity toward C2H4 progressively increases, while CH4 decreases steadily upon lowering the Cu oxidation species fraction. At a relatively low electrodeposition voltage of 1.5 V, the Cu gas-diffusion electrode with the highest Cuδ+/Cu0 ratio favors the pathways of hydrogenation to form CH4 with maximum Faradaic efficiency of 65.4% and partial current density of 228 mA cm-2 at -0.83 V vs RHE. At 2.0 V, the Cu gas-diffusion electrode with the lowest Cuδ+/Cu0 ratio prefers C–C coupling to form C2+ products with Faradaic efficiency topping 80.1% at -0.75 V vs RHE, where the Faradaic efficiency of C2H4 accounts for 46.4% and the partial current density of C2H4 achieves 279 mA cm-2. This work demonstrates that the selectivity from CH4 to C2H4 is switchable by tuning surface Cu species composition of Cu gas-diffusion electrodes.},
doi = {10.1002/eem2.12307},
journal = {Energy & Environmental Materials},
number = 2,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Tue Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

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