Copper-on-nitride enhances the stable electrosynthesis of multi-carbon products from CO2

Zhi-Qin Liang, Tao-Tao Zhuang, Ali Seifitokaldani, Jun Li, Chun-Wei Huang, Chih-Shan Tan, Yi Li, Phil De Luna, Cao Thang Dinh, Yongfeng Hu, Qunfeng Xiao, Pei-Lun Hsieh, Yuhang Wang, Fengwang Li, Rafael Quintero-Bermudez, Yansong Zhou, Peining Chen, Yuanjie Pang, Shen-Chuan Lo, Lih-Juann Chen, Hairen Tan, Zheng Xu, Suling Zhao, David Sinton and Edward H. Sargent ()
Additional contact information
Zhi-Qin Liang: University of Toronto
Tao-Tao Zhuang: University of Toronto
Ali Seifitokaldani: University of Toronto
Jun Li: University of Toronto
Chun-Wei Huang: Industrial Technology Research Institute
Chih-Shan Tan: University of Toronto
Yi Li: University of Science and Technology of China
Phil De Luna: University of Toronto
Cao Thang Dinh: University of Toronto
Yongfeng Hu: Canadian Light Source (CLS)
Qunfeng Xiao: Canadian Light Source (CLS)
Pei-Lun Hsieh: National Tsing Hua University
Yuhang Wang: University of Toronto
Fengwang Li: University of Toronto
Rafael Quintero-Bermudez: University of Toronto
Yansong Zhou: University of Toronto
Peining Chen: University of Toronto
Yuanjie Pang: University of Toronto
Shen-Chuan Lo: Industrial Technology Research Institute
Lih-Juann Chen: National Tsing Hua University
Hairen Tan: University of Toronto
Zheng Xu: Beijing Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education
Suling Zhao: Beijing Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education
David Sinton: University of Toronto
Edward H. Sargent: University of Toronto

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Copper-based materials are promising electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction. Prior studies show that the mixture of copper (I) and copper (0) at the catalyst surface enhances multi-carbon products from CO2 reduction; however, the stable presence of copper (I) remains the subject of debate. Here we report a copper on copper (I) composite that stabilizes copper (I) during CO2 reduction through the use of copper nitride as an underlying copper (I) species. We synthesize a copper-on-nitride catalyst that exhibits a Faradaic efficiency of 64 ± 2% for C2+ products. We achieve a 40-fold enhancement in the ratio of C2+ to the competing CH4 compared to the case of pure copper. We further show that the copper-on-nitride catalyst performs stable CO2 reduction over 30 h. Mechanistic studies suggest that the use of copper nitride contributes to reducing the CO dimerization energy barrier—a rate-limiting step in CO2 reduction to multi-carbon products.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06311-0

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