Surface N-coordinated Cu catalysts for CO2 electroreduction to ethylene at industry-level current densities

Abstract

In this work, surface N-coordinated Cu (N–Cu) catalysts were developed by the direct calcination of a sole N-containing Cu₂(OH)₃NO₃ precursor followed by in situ electroreduction during CO₂ electrolysis. The best N–Cu catalyst exhibits a CO₂-to-ethylene (C₂H₄) faradaic efficiency (FE) of 73.2% with a partial current density of −700.8 mA cm⁻² at −1.09 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in a flow cell, greatly outperforming surface N-free Cu catalysts.