High-Rate and Selective Conversion of Low-Concentration Carbon Dioxide to Carbon Monoxide Using a Carbon...

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (e-CO₂RR), powered by renewable electricity, is a compelling strategy to valorize CO₂ into valuable chemicals and fuels. Herein, we report on MWCNT|CuPc-CoPc-modified gas-diffusion electrodes (GDEs) featuring molecular-level dispersion of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) on the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) support. The introduction of CuPc effectively mitigates CoPc aggregation, enabling tunable loading and fractional accessibility of electrochemically active CoPc sites, alongside improved CO₂ adsorption capacity. Besides, the synergistic electronic interactions among CoPc, MWCNT, CuPc, and H₂Pc, formed in situ via CuPc demetallization during electrolysis, optimized CO₂ affinity, as evidenced by density functional theory calculations. With these promising attributes, the MWCNT|CuPc-CoPc-modified GDE with optimized CuPc content exhibits promising e-CO₂RR performance across a wide CO₂ concentration range (20%-98%). Notably, an efficient single-pass conversion of CO₂ to CO is achieved, yielding a high CO yield of 65.7 ± 2.3% and an energy efficiency of 54.8 ± 1.9% using 20% CO₂ at an ampere-level current (0.625 A). Furthermore, the developed electrode demonstrated robust stability, maintaining FE_CO above 80.4% over 72-h electrolysis under a simulated biogas atmosphere (40% CO₂/60% CH₄). These findings underscore the strong promise of molecularly engineered catalyst systems for efficient and selective CO production from low-concentration CO₂ emission sources.