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Oxygen Vacancy Tuning toward Efficient Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction to C 2 H 4
Author(s) -
Gu Zhengxiang,
Yang Na,
Han Peng,
Kuang Min,
Mei Bingbao,
Jiang Zheng,
Zhong Jun,
Li Li,
Zheng Gengfeng
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
small methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.66
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 2366-9608
DOI - 10.1002/smtd.201800449
Subject(s) - electrochemistry , faraday efficiency , oxygen , vacancy defect , selectivity , oxide , adsorption , materials science , electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide , carbon fibers , redox , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , carbon monoxide , electrode , catalysis , crystallography , metallurgy , organic chemistry , composite material , composite number
Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a promising approach to solve both renewable energy storage and carbon‐neutral energy cycles, while the capability of selective reduction to C 2+ products has still been quite limited. In this work, partially reduced copper oxide nanodendrites with rich surface oxygen vacancies (CuO x –Vo) are developed, serving as excellent Lewis base sites for enhanced CO 2 adsorption and subsequent electrochemical reduction. Theoretical calculations reveal that these oxygen vacancy‐rich CuO x surfaces provide strong binding affinities to the intermediates of *CO and *COH, but weak affinity to *CH 2 , thus leading to efficient formation of C 2 H 4 . As a result, the partially reduced CuO x nanodendrites exhibit one of the highest C 2 H 4 production Faradaic efficiencies of 63%. The electrochemical stability test further shows that the C 2 H 4 Faradaic efficiency strongly depends on the oxygen vacancy density in CuO x , which can further be regenerated for several cycles, thus suggesting the critical role of oxygen vacancies for the C 2 product selectivity.