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Research Article

Hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol functionalized copper catalyst promotes robust high-current CO2 gas-diffusion electrolysis

Liangyao Xue1, Xuefeng Wu1, Yuanwei Liu1, Beibei Xu2, Xuelu Wang2, Sheng Dai3(), Pengfei Liu1(), Huagui Yang1()
Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hierarchical Nanomaterials School of Materials Science and EngineeringEast China University of Science and Technology hanghai 200237 China
Physics Department and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance School of Physics and Materials Science East China Normal University Shanghai 200062 China
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center Institute of Fine Chemicals School of Chemistry and Molecular EngineeringEast China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road Shanghai 200237 China
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Abstract

The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 presents a promising strategy in addressing environmental and energy crisis. Significant progress has been achieved via CO2 gas diffusion electrolysis, to react at high selectivity and high rate. However, the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) still suffers from low tolerance and limited active sites. Here, the hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol molecular was functionalized over the Cu catalyst layer of the GDE, which simultaneously stabilizes the GDL and exposes abundant active solid–liquid–gas three-phase interfaces. The resultant GDE exhibits multi-carbon (C2+) product selectivity over faradaic efficiency (FE) of 70.0% in the range of 100 to 800 mA·cm-2, with the peak FEC2+ of 85.2% at 800 mA·cm-2. Notably, the strengthened GDE could continuously drive high-current electrolysis for more than 100 h without flooding. This work opens a new way to improve CO2 gas diffusion electrolysis via surface molecular engineering.

Keywords

CO2 reduction reactiongas diffusion electrolysismulti-carbon productsmolecular engineeringhydrophobicity

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Nano Research
Volume 15 Issue 2,
February 2022
Pages 1393-1398
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-021-3675-6
Cite this article:
Xue L, Wu X, Liu Y, et al. Hydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol functionalized copper catalyst promotes robust high-current CO2 gas-diffusion electrolysis. Nano Research, 2022, 15(2): 1393-1398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3675-6
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