Cuo nanoparticles supported on Tio₂ with high efficiency for CO₂ electrochemical reduction to ethanol

Non-noble metal oxides consisting of CuO and Tio₂ (CuO/Tio₂ catalyst) for CO₂ reduction were fabricated using a simple hydrothermal method. The designed catalysts of CuO could be in situ reduced to a metallic Cu-forming Cu/Tio₂ catalyst, which could efficiently catalyze CO₂ reduction to multi-carbon oxygenates (ethanol, acetone, and n-propanol) with a maximum overall faradaic efficiency of 47.4% at a potential of 0.85 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in 0.5 M KHCO₃ solution. The catalytic activity for CO₂ electroreduction strongly depends on the CuO contents of the catalysts as-prepared, resulting in different electrochemistry surface areas. The significantly improved CO₂ catalytic activity of CuO/Tio₂ might be due to the strong CO₂ adsorption ability.