Modulating adsorbed hydrogen drives electrochemical CO2-to-C2 products

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction is a typical reaction involving two reactants (CO2 and H2O). However, the role of H2O dissociation, which provides active *H species to multiple protonation steps, is usually overlooked. Herein, we construct a dual-active sites catalyst comprising atomic Cu sites and Cu nanoparticles supported on N-doped carbon matrix. Efficient electrosynthesis of multi-carbon products is achieved with Faradaic efficiency approaching 75.4% with a partial current density of 289.2 mA cm−2 at −0.6 V. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that Cu nanoparticles facilitate the C-C coupling step through *CHO dimerization, while the atomic Cu sites boost H2O dissociation to form *H. The generated *H migrate to Cu nanoparticles and modulate the *H coverage on Cu NPs, and thus promote *CO-to-*CHO. The dual-active sites effect of Cu single-sites and Cu nanoparticles gives rise to the catalytic performance.