Superhydrophobicity-Enabled Efficient Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction at a High Temperature

Enhancing the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) by a temperature increase is very attractive, but lower CO2 solubility and the more intense competitive hydrogen evolution reaction limit the practical implementation. Herein, we report an efficient CO2RR at relatively high temperatures using a superhydrophobic electrode with a solid–liquid–gas three-phase interface microenvironment. Based on the three-phase electrode, the partial current density of the reduction product CO was increased by 240% from 8 to 60 °C. A mathematical model was developed to explore the CO2RR process, which demonstrated that the high CO2 level and rapid CO2 diffusion rate determine the CO2RR performance. The interfacial CO2 concentration of the three-phase electrode is approximately 26.2 times higher than that of the two-phase electrode at 60 °C.