Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) can produce value-added hydrocarbons from renewable electricity, providing a sustainable and promising approach to meet dual-carbon targets and alleviate the energy crisis. However, it is still challenging to improve the selectivity and stability of the products, especially the C₂₊ products. Here we propose to modulate the electronic structure of copper oxide (CuO) through lattice strain construction by zinc (Zn) doping to improve the selectivity of the catalyst to ethylene. Combined performance and in situ characterization analyses show that the compressive strain generated within the CuO lattice and the electronic structure modulation by Zn doping enhances the adsorption of the key intermediate *CO, thereby increasing the intrinsic activity of CO₂RR and inhibiting the hydrogen precipitation reaction. Among the best catalysts had significantly improved ethylene selectivity of 60.5% and partial current density of 500 mA·cm^–2, and the highest C₂₊ Faraday efficiency of 71.47%. This paper provides a simple idea to study the modulation of CO₂RR properties by heteroatom doped and lattice strain.

Ionic gel (IG) electrolytes are emerging as promising components for the development of next-generation supercapacitors (SCs), offering benefits in terms of safety, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. The ionic conductivity, stability, and mechanical properties of the gel electrolyte are relevant factors to be considered and the key to improving the performance of the SC. However, the structure–activity relationship between the internal structure of IGs and their SC properties is not fully understood. In the current study, the intuitive and regular structure–activity relationship between the structure and properties of IGs was revealed via combining computational simulation and experiment. In terms of conductivity, the ionic liquid (IL) ([EMIM][TFSI]) in the IG has a high self-diffusion coefficient calculated by molecular dynamics simulation (MDS), which is conductive to transfer and then improves the conductivity. The radial distribution function of the MDS shows that the larger the g(r) between the particles in the polymer network, the stronger the interaction. For stability, IGs based on [EMIM][TFSI] and [EOMIM][TFSI] ILs have higher density functional theory calculated binding energy, which is reflected in the excellent thermal stability and excellent capacitor cycle stability. Based on the internal pore size distribution and stress-strain characterization of the gel network ([ME3MePy][TFSI] and [BMIM][TFSI] as additives), the highly crosslinked aggregate network significantly reduces the internal mesoporous distribution and plays a leading role in improving the mechanical properties of the network. By using this strategy, it will be possible to design the ideal structure of the IG and achieve excellent performance.