In Situ Periodic Regeneration of Catalyst during CO₂ Electroreduction to C₂₊ Products

Developing electrocatalytic reactions with high-efficiency can make important contributions to carbon neutrality. However, poor long-term stability of catalysts is a bottleneck for its practical application. Herein, an “in situ periodic regeneration of catalyst (PR-C)” strategy is proposed to give long-term high efficiency of CO₂ electroreduction to generate C₂₊ products over Cu catalyst by applying a positive potential pulse for a short time periodically in the halide-containing electrolyte. The high Faradaic efficiency (81.2 %) and current density (22.6 mA cm⁻²) could be maintained completely at least 36 h, while the activity and selectivity decreased continuously without using the PR-C method. Control experiments and operando characterization demonstrated that the surface structure and oxidation state of Cu could be recovered periodically by the PR-C method, which was beneficial for CO₂ activation and C−C coupling.