In Situ Topotactic Transformation of an Interstitial Alloy for CO Electroreduction

• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202002382
• Publication Date: 2020-08-24T09:41:52Z
• Authors: Changming Zhao; Gan Luo; Xiaokang Liu; Wei Zhang; Zhijun Li; Qian Xu; Qinghua Zhang; Huijuan Wang; Deming Li; Fangyao Zhou; Yunteng Qu; Xiao Han; Zezhou Zhu; Geng Wu; Jing Wang; Junfa Zhu; Tao Yao; Yafei Li; Henny J.M. Bouwme...; Yuen Wu
• Keywords: multi-carbon products; SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy; Cu N; lattice dislocations; high concentration products streams; CO electroreduction; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; n/a OA procedure; 0104 chemical sciences

AbstractElectrochemical reduction of CO to value‐added products holds promise for storage of energy from renewable sources. Copper can convert CO into multi‐carbon (C2+) products during CO electroreduction. However, developing a Cu electrocatalyst with a high selectivity for CO reduction and desirable production rates for C2+ products remains challenging. Herein, highly lattice‐disordered Cu3N with abundant twin structures as a precursor electrocatalyst is examined for CO reduction. Through in situ activation during the CO reduction reaction (CORR) and concomitant release of nitrogen, the obtained metallic Cu° catalyst particles inherit the lattice dislocations present in the parent Cu3N lattice. The de‐nitrified catalyst delivers an unprecedented C2+ Faradaic efficiency of over 90% at a current density of 727 mA cm−2 in a flow cell system. Using a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer with a solid‐state electrolyte (SSE), a 17.4 vol% ethylene stream and liquid streams with concentration of 1.45 m and 230 × 10−3 m C2+ products at the outlet of the cathode and SSE‐containment layer are obtained.