A perovskite La₂CuO₄ electrocatalyst for CO₂ selective reduction to multi-carbon products

Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to multi‑carbon (C₂₊) products is a promising route to convert CO₂ to high valued chemicals, but sluggish CC coupling kinetics and low selectivity remain critical bottlenecks. Herein, this work reports a copper-based perovskite La₂CuO₄ electrocatalyst that exhibits a high Faradaic efficiency of 90.6% toward C₂₊ products and a partial current density of 453 mA·cm^-2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte, among the best catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction to C₂₊ products. Experimental studies reveal that La₂CuO₄ undergoes electrochemical reconstruction during the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), leading to the formation of a Cu (111)/La₂CuO₄ (113) interface. XPS spectra and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the interface effect, resulting in electron enrichment on Cu sites, which facilitates the adsorption and activation of CO₂ and promotes the generation of *CO intermediates. In situ spectroscopic characterizations unveil the mixed adsorption configurations of *CO_bridge and *CO_atop, which induce the asymmetric coupling of *CO-*CHO, a more kinetically favorable pathway than *CO-*CO dimerization, thereby enhancing the selectivity for C₂₊ products. This work provides a feasible strategy to construct high-performance catalysts for CO₂RR from Cu-based perovskite materials via electrochemical reconstruction, demonstrating their application potential in future CO₂ conversion.