Reconstructed Cu/Cu2O(I) catalyst for selective electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ products

It is particularly desirable for the development of carbon utilization technologies to synthesize multicarbon products (C2+) from the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR). In this work, Cu/Cu2O(X) catalysts (where X = I, Br, Cl) for selective electroreduction of CO2 to C2+ were reconstructed via cyclic voltammetry on carbon paper. The Faradaic efficiency (FE) for C2+ (C2H4, C2H5OH, C3H8OH) production over Cu/Cu2O(Cl), Cu/Cu2O(Br) and Cu/Cu2O(I) reached 31%, 34% and 58%, respectively, at a potential of −0.76 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The Cu+ and Cu0 species obtained from the reconstruction of Cu/CuX are primarily responsible for the high C2+ producing activity.