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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
07:36
Versatile CO2 Transformations into Complex Products: A One-pot Two-step Strategy
Published on: November 9, 2019
Promoting Electroreduction CO2 to Multi-Carbon Products by Tailoring the *H Availability With Optimized Interfacial
Dawei Zhou1, Songhu Bi1, Jie Zhang1
1Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenzhen, China.
Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
|July 17, 2026
Summary
Regulating interfacial water configuration via ionomer confinement enhances multi-carbon (C2+) selectivity in CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR). This strategy improves catalyst stability and efficiency for carbon neutrality goals.
Area of Science:
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
- Materials Science
Background:
- The electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to multi-carbon products is crucial for carbon neutrality.
- Interfacial water configuration is a key, yet often overlooked, factor in modulating CO2 electroreduction reaction (CO2RR) performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate that controlling interfacial water configuration through ionomer confinement effectively enhances multi-carbon (C2+) product selectivity in CO2RR.
- To elucidate the mechanism by which interfacial water configuration influences CO2RR performance.
Main Methods:
- Utilized ionomer confinement to regulate interfacial water configuration.
- Employed in situ ATR-SEIRAS and Raman spectroscopy to analyze interfacial water structures.
- Performed DFT calculations to understand reaction mechanisms and energy barriers.
Main Results:
- Optimized catalyst (15.79% A5-Cu) achieved 82% Faradaic efficiency for C2+ products at 200 mA cm-2.
- Demonstrated stable operation for over 100 hours without salt precipitation in an MEA system.
- Revealed that ionomer confinement tunes the K+-H2O and 4-HB-H2O configurations, enhancing *H generation and utilization.
Conclusions:
- Interfacial water configuration plays a critical role in steering C2+ product selectivity in CO2RR.
- Balanced interfacial water configurations improve *H transfer efficiency and lower energy barriers for CO2 hydrogenation and C-C coupling.
- This approach offers a promising strategy for developing highly selective and stable CO2RR electrocatalysts.
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