Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO₂ to Ethane over Nitrogen-Doped Fe₂O₃

Non-copper electrocatalysts are seldom reported to generate C₂₊ products, and the efficiency over these catalysts is low. In this work, we report a nitrogen-doped γ-Fe₂O₃ (Fe₂O₃-N@CN) electrocatalyst, which yield C₂H₆ as the major product in an H-cell. At -2.0 V vs Ag/Ag⁺, the Faradaic efficiency (FE) for ethane reaches 42% with a current density of 32 mA cm^-2. This is the first report about selective CO₂ reduction to ethane (C₂H₆) over an iron-based catalyst. The results showed that the catalyst possessing FeO_1.5-N sites enriched with oxygen vacancies was beneficial for the stabilization of *COOH intermediates. The exposure of two adjacent surfaces of Fe atoms was conducive to lowering the energy barrier for C-C coupling over FeO_1.5-N sites, facilitating the generation of C₂H₆. This work provides a strategy for the design of a novel iron-based catalyst with tunable local coordination and electronic structures for converting CO₂ into C₂ products in the CO₂RR.