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Highly Efficient Electroreduction of CO 2 to C2+ Alcohols on Heterogeneous Dual Active Sites
Author(s) -
Chen Chunjun,
Yan Xupeng,
Liu Shoujie,
Wu Yahui,
Wan Qiang,
Sun Xiaofu,
Zhu Qinggong,
Liu Huizhen,
Ma Jun,
Zheng Lirong,
Wu Haihong,
Han Buxing
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202006847
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , chemistry , catalysis , faraday efficiency , carbon fibers , graphene , ethanol , chemical engineering , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , composite number , electrode , composite material , engineering
Electroreduction of CO 2 to liquid fuels such as ethanol and n‐propanol, powered by renewable electricity, offers a promising strategy for controlling the global carbon balance and addressing the need for the storage of intermittent renewable energy. In this work, we discovered that the composite composed of nitrogen‐doped graphene quantum dots (NGQ) on CuO‐derived Cu nanorods (NGQ/Cu‐nr) was an outstanding electrocatalyst for the reduction of CO 2 to ethanol and n‐propanol. The Faradaic efficiency (FE) of C2+ alcohols could reach 52.4 % with a total current density of 282.1 mA cm −2 . This is the highest FE for C2+ alcohols with a commercial current density to date. Control experiments and DFT studies show that the NGQ/Cu‐nr could provide dual catalytic active sites and could stabilize the CH 2 CHO intermediate to enhance the FE of alcohols significantly through further carbon protonation. The NGQ and Cu‐nr had excellent synergistic effects for accelerating the reduction of CO 2 to alcohols.