Evaluating the efficacy of nanosized CuZnAl and CuZnZr mixed oxides for electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction

The increased awareness of carbon management has prompted the scientific community towards delivering sustainable catalytic technologies, preferably from CO₂. Copper-based multifunctional catalysts are the most frequently used for thermal hydrogenation and electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ (CO₂R) processes. To improve the understanding and efficacy of these materials for the CO₂R reaction, Cu-Zn oxides combined with Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂ were synthesized by the coprecipitation method and annealed at 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C (i.e., Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃-x and Cu/ZnO/ZrO₂ systems-x, where x is the annealing temperature) to tune their multi-functionality. We demonstrate that the composition of Cu-Zn oxides and pretreatment temperature impact the electrocatalytic CO₂R performance, where CuZnZr-600 and CuZnAl-700 materials are superior. Different characterization tools were employed to rationalize the results described in this work, which could provide a way to design an efficient catalytic system for the CO₂R process.