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Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Solar-Driven Electrochemical Green Fuel Production from CO2 and Water Using Ti3C2Tx MXene-Supported CuZn and NiCo Catalysts
Published on: November 7, 2025
Thermodynamic control of Cu-I nanotopologies enables solar-driven CO2-to-multicarbon conversion
Qixing Zhang1,2,3,4,5, Jing Gao6, Muchen Li7
1Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Solar-driven electrochemical CO2 reduction to multicarbon (C2+) products presents a promising avenue for artificial photosynthesis, yet remains constrained by high overpotentials and limited conversion efficiency. Here, we developed an alkaline environment-modulated prereduction strategy that capitalizes on the divergent thermodynamic stabilities of precursors, enabling the precise synthesis of iodine-doped copper nanotopologies (Cu-I NTs). Featuring tunable under-coordination defects and stabilized high-energy adsorption sites, the Cu-I NTs achieve an onset potential of only -0.37 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode for C2+ formation. Operando Raman measurement and density functional theory calculation reveal that the tailored surface topologies favor Cu-CO rotation adsorption, enabling dynamic reorientation from bridge- to atop-binding configurations, which collectively lowers the barrier for CO-CO coupling. Impressively, powering the electrolyzer by a perovskite/silicon tandem together with a single-junction silicon photovoltaic device, the system delivers a photocurrent of 12.34 mA cm-2 at 2.17 V under standard AM 1.5 illumination, achieving a solar-to-C2+ conversion efficiency of 8.64%.
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