Reconstructed Cu/Cu₂O(I) catalyst for selective electroreduction of CO₂ to C₂₊ products

It is particularly desirable for the development of carbon utilization technologies to synthesize multicarbon products (C₂₊) from the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). In this work, Cu/Cu₂O(X) catalysts (where X = I, Br, Cl) for selective electroreduction of CO₂ to C₂₊ were reconstructed via cyclic voltammetry on carbon paper. The Faradaic efficiency (FE) for C₂₊ (C₂H₄, C₂H₅OH, C₃H₈OH) production over Cu/Cu₂O(Cl), Cu/Cu₂O(Br) and Cu/Cu₂O(I) reached 31%, 34% and 58%, respectively, at a potential of −0.76 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The Cu⁺ and Cu⁰ species obtained from the reconstruction of Cu/CuX are primarily responsible for the high C₂₊ producing activity.