Ultrastable Copper Superatom.

Area of Science:

• Nanomaterials Science
• Catalysis
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Coinage metal nanoclusters, particularly gold and silver, are widely used in catalysis and energy conversion.
• Copper nanoclusters offer a low-cost alternative but suffer from instability, hindering their development.
• The low Cu(I)/Cu(0) reduction potential is a primary cause of instability in copper nanoclusters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize a stable copper nanocluster with potential for catalytic applications.
• To investigate the stability and electronic properties of the novel copper nanocluster.
• To evaluate the performance of the copper nanocluster as an electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a novel 6-electron superatomic copper nanocluster, [Cu45H6(C≡CR)18(OAc)15] (Cu45).
• Characterization using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and time-dependent DFT calculations.
• Electrocatalytic testing for CO2 to C2H4 conversion, including in situ ATR-SEIRAS and theoretical calculations.

Main Results:

• The synthesized Cu45 nanocluster exhibits exceptional stability against thermal, oxidative, reductive, acidic, and basic conditions.
• Its stability is attributed to a superatomic electronic configuration (1S21P4) and strong copper-ligand interactions.
• Cu45 demonstrates superior electrocatalytic performance for CO2 to C2H4 conversion, achieving 81.8% Faradaic efficiency for C2+ products (58% for ethene).

Conclusions:

• The study reports the first stable 6-electron superatomic copper nanocluster, Cu45.
• Cu45 serves as a highly effective electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction to C2H4, surpassing existing copper cluster catalysts.
• This work paves the way for designing robust copper nanoclusters for advanced electrocatalytic applications.