Two-dimensional copper nanosheets for electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide to acetate

Wesley Luc; Xianbiao Fu; Jianjian Shi; Jing Jing Lv; Matthew Jouny; Byung Hee Ko; Yaobin Xu; Qing Tu; Xiaobing Hu; Jinsong Wu; Qin Yue; Yuanyue Liu; Feng Jiao; Yijin Kang

doi:10.1038/s41929-019-0269-8

Two-dimensional copper nanosheets for electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide to acetate

Wesley Luc, Xianbiao Fu, Jianjian Shi, Jing Jing Lv, Matthew Jouny, Byung Hee Ko, Yaobin Xu, Qing Tu, Xiaobing Hu, Jinsong Wu, Qin Yue, Yuanyue Liu, Feng Jiao, Yijin Kang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

451 Scopus citations

Abstract

Upgrading carbon dioxide to high-value multicarbon (C₂₊) products is one promising avenue for fuel and chemical production. Among all the monometallic catalysts, copper has attracted much attention because of its unique ability to convert CO₂ or CO into C₂₊ products with an appreciable selectivity. Although numerous attempts have been made to synthesize Cu materials that expose the desired facets, it still remains a challenge to obtain high-quality nanostructured Cu catalysts for the electroreduction of CO₂/CO. Here we report a facile synthesis of freestanding triangular-shaped two-dimensional Cu nanosheets that selectively expose the (111) surface. In a 2 M KOH electrolyte, the Cu nanosheets exhibit an acetate Faradaic efficiency of 48% with an acetate partial current density up to 131 mA cm⁻² in electrochemical CO reduction. Further analysis suggest that the high acetate selectivity is attributed to the suppression of ethylene and ethanol formation, probably due to the reduction of exposed (100) and (110) surfaces.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	423-430
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Catalysis
Volume	2
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0269-8
State	Published - May 1 2019

Funding

The work is supported by the Department of Energy (USA) under Award no. DE-FE0029868 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Award nos 51601030 and 21773023. F.J., W.L., J.-J.L., M.J. and B.H.K. also thank the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development program (Award no. CBET-1350911). Y.K. and X.F. acknowledge the support from International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) and Institute for Sustainability and Energy (ISEN) at Northwestern University. The theoretical calculation is supported by the Welch Foundation (Grant no. F-1959-20180324) and the startup grant from UT Austin, and used computational resources sponsored by the DOE\u2019s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at UT Austin. This work made use of the Electron Probe Instrumentation Center (EPIC) facility of Northwestern University\u2019s Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center (NUANCE), which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) program (NSF DMR-1121262) at the Materials Research Center; the IIN. This work made use of the J.B. Cohen X-Ray Diffraction Facility supported by MRSEC and SHyNE. The authors acknowledge D. Su (Brookhaven National Laboratory), X. Ye (Indiana University) and A. Petford-Long (Northwestern University) for help in the discussion. This research used resources at the 8-ID Beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract no. DE-SC0012704. The authors acknowledge E. Stavitski (8-ID Beamline, NSLS-II, Brookhaven National Laboratory) for assistance in the XAS measurements.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Catalysis
Bioengineering
Biochemistry
Process Chemistry and Technology

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abstract = "Upgrading carbon dioxide to high-value multicarbon (C2+) products is one promising avenue for fuel and chemical production. Among all the monometallic catalysts, copper has attracted much attention because of its unique ability to convert CO2 or CO into C2+ products with an appreciable selectivity. Although numerous attempts have been made to synthesize Cu materials that expose the desired facets, it still remains a challenge to obtain high-quality nanostructured Cu catalysts for the electroreduction of CO2/CO. Here we report a facile synthesis of freestanding triangular-shaped two-dimensional Cu nanosheets that selectively expose the (111) surface. In a 2 M KOH electrolyte, the Cu nanosheets exhibit an acetate Faradaic efficiency of 48% with an acetate partial current density up to 131 mA cm−2 in electrochemical CO reduction. Further analysis suggest that the high acetate selectivity is attributed to the suppression of ethylene and ethanol formation, probably due to the reduction of exposed (100) and (110) surfaces.",

author = "Wesley Luc and Xianbiao Fu and Jianjian Shi and Lv, {Jing Jing} and Matthew Jouny and Ko, {Byung Hee} and Yaobin Xu and Qing Tu and Xiaobing Hu and Jinsong Wu and Qin Yue and Yuanyue Liu and Feng Jiao and Yijin Kang",

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AU - Jouny, Matthew

AU - Ko, Byung Hee

AU - Xu, Yaobin

AU - Tu, Qing

AU - Hu, Xiaobing

AU - Wu, Jinsong

AU - Yue, Qin

AU - Liu, Yuanyue

AU - Jiao, Feng

AU - Kang, Yijin

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N2 - Upgrading carbon dioxide to high-value multicarbon (C2+) products is one promising avenue for fuel and chemical production. Among all the monometallic catalysts, copper has attracted much attention because of its unique ability to convert CO2 or CO into C2+ products with an appreciable selectivity. Although numerous attempts have been made to synthesize Cu materials that expose the desired facets, it still remains a challenge to obtain high-quality nanostructured Cu catalysts for the electroreduction of CO2/CO. Here we report a facile synthesis of freestanding triangular-shaped two-dimensional Cu nanosheets that selectively expose the (111) surface. In a 2 M KOH electrolyte, the Cu nanosheets exhibit an acetate Faradaic efficiency of 48% with an acetate partial current density up to 131 mA cm−2 in electrochemical CO reduction. Further analysis suggest that the high acetate selectivity is attributed to the suppression of ethylene and ethanol formation, probably due to the reduction of exposed (100) and (110) surfaces.

AB - Upgrading carbon dioxide to high-value multicarbon (C2+) products is one promising avenue for fuel and chemical production. Among all the monometallic catalysts, copper has attracted much attention because of its unique ability to convert CO2 or CO into C2+ products with an appreciable selectivity. Although numerous attempts have been made to synthesize Cu materials that expose the desired facets, it still remains a challenge to obtain high-quality nanostructured Cu catalysts for the electroreduction of CO2/CO. Here we report a facile synthesis of freestanding triangular-shaped two-dimensional Cu nanosheets that selectively expose the (111) surface. In a 2 M KOH electrolyte, the Cu nanosheets exhibit an acetate Faradaic efficiency of 48% with an acetate partial current density up to 131 mA cm−2 in electrochemical CO reduction. Further analysis suggest that the high acetate selectivity is attributed to the suppression of ethylene and ethanol formation, probably due to the reduction of exposed (100) and (110) surfaces.

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Two-dimensional copper nanosheets for electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide to acetate

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