High Efficient Catalyst of N‐doped Carbon Modified Copper Containing Rich Cu−N−C Active Sites for Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction

Abstract The synthesis of multi‐carbon products through electrochemical CO 2 reduction reactions has attracted great interest from researchers. Herein, nitrogen‐ and carbon‐doped copper nanocatalyst (NC−Cu) containing abundant Cu−N−C active sites was prepared by thermal decomposition of the complexes containing copper and melamine. The NC−Cu catalyst exhibited an ideal current density of 22 mA cm −2 at −0.93 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode ( vs . RHE) in CO 2 ‐saturated 0.5 M KHCO 3 medium, with ethanol as the predominant product at −0.93 V ( vs . RHE) and a maximum Faraday efficiency of 31 %. The current density of the catalyst remained almost unchanged after 20 h of electrolysis, indicating its excellent stability. The excellent catalytic ability is attributed to the abundant Cu−N−C active sites of NC−Cu with 3D porous microstructure.