关键词: 铜纳米材料, 电催化, 二氧化碳还原, 法拉第效率

Abstract:

 A large-scale application of fossil fuels has led to excessive emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂), resulting in serious environmental issues. A promising path to reducing CO₂ emissions is recycling CO₂ into valuable chemicals and fuels through an electrochemical process. Herein, the redox reactions between copper (Cu) and ferric chloride (FeCl₃) have been utilized to regulate the Cu surface composition and structure, aimed to improve the electrocatalytic activity toward CO₂ reduction. Typically, a series of samples (named Cu-1h, Cu-2h, Cu-3h and Cu-4h) were prepared via the redox reactions for various time from 1 to 4 h. When used as electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR), the Cu-3h catalyst exhibited the best catalytic performance, showing the smallest onset potential (-0.3 V vs. RHE) and largest current density. Additionally, the Faradaic efficiencies for CO and CH₄ at -0.6 V vs. RHE reached around 60%. The in-situ redox reaction provides a promising approach to regulate the Cu surface composition and structure for enhancing CO₂RR.

Key words:  copper nanomaterial, electrocatalysis, carbon dioxide reduction, Faradaic efficiency