Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to C2+ products on Cu and CuxZny electrodes: Effects of chemical composition and surface morphology

The electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is a promising strategy for producing multi?carbon compounds using only and H2O at room temperature. Significant advances have already been achieved in understanding how some characteristics of copper electrodes, the current state-of-the-art catalyst formation via CO2RR, affect product spectrum. Advances insights reported for, among others, effect crystallographic orientation, active surface area, composition M?copper (M = Au, Ag, Zn, etc.) materials, these alter distribution CO2RR products. However, systematic study evaluating significance variables to C2+ products still lacking literature represents an important step development new materials with optimized properties that can be more selective compounds. In this paper, we systematically investigated roughness factor, chemical composition, morphology CuxZny electrocatalysts on during CO2RR. Firstly, Cu, Cu90Zn10, Cu75Zn25 electrodes were exposed oxidation-reduction cycles produce Cu different morphologies, factors, composition. Our results show increase factor Zn content lead higher faradaic efficiency (FE) Furthermore, influence nanoscale imperative production Specifically, nanocubes presented highest FE morphologies studied work (polished flat surface, nanosheres, nanocubes, nanodendrites, nanocauliflowers), showing CC coupling mainly shape dependent.