Effective CO2 electroreduction toward C2H4 boosted by Ce-doped Cu nanoparticles

Coupling another metal element tends to produce catalytic controls of high activity and selectivity. However, this action is still poorly explored to improve the selectivity of the electroreduction of CO2 to C2H4 with high energy density. Herein, Ce-doped Cu nanoparticles (Ce-Cu NPs) are synthesized by one-step co-reduction method and presented a preferable example that promotes selective transformation of CO2 to C2H4 in a flow-cell configuration. Thereinto, high faradaic efficiency (FE) of C2H4 for Ce-Cu-2 NPs could reach 53% with the current density of 150 mA cm−2, which is 2.8 times higher than that of Cu NPs. The outstanding performance mainly stems from tailoring the doped-Ce content shrinks particle sizes and forms oxygen defects due to the electron effect of nearby Ce atoms, boosting local electronic re-distribution of Cu. Meanwhile, in-situ Raman spectroscopies evidenced that the doping of Ce can enhance Cu site to bond *CO, which were beneficial to C–C coupling and thus endowed the catalyst with the superior catalytic performance in CO2 electroreduction toward C2H4.