Abstract
Electroreduction of CO2 into liquid fuels is a compelling strategy for storing intermittent renewable energy. Here, we introduce a family of facet-defined dilute copper alloy nanocrystals as catalysts to improve the electrosynthesis of n-propanol from CO2 and H2O. We show that substituting a dilute amount of weak-CO-binding metals into the Cu(100) surface improves CO2-to-n-propanol activity and selectivity by modifying the electronic structure of catalysts to facilitate C1-C2 coupling while preserving the (100)-like 4-fold Cu ensembles which favor C1-C1 coupling. With the Au0.02Cu0.98 champion catalyst, we achieve an n-propanol Faradaic efficiency of 18.2 ± 0.3% at a low potential of −0.41 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode and a peak production rate of 16.6 mA·cm-2. This study demonstrates that shape-controlled dilute-metal-alloy nanocrystals represent a new frontier in electrocatalyst design, and precise control of the host and minority metal distributions is crucial for elucidating structure-composition-property relationships and attaining superior catalytic performance.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 4508-4520 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of the American Chemical Society |
Volume | 146 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 21 2024 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Catalysis
- General Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Colloid and Surface Chemistry