Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) to renewable fuels and feed stocks provides a viable approach to recycle CO2 gas into energy sources, which requires development of highly active catalysts at low overpotential. Herein, we synthesize a high-yield star decahedron Cu nanoparticle (SD-Cu NPs) electrocatalysts. SD-Cu NPs display unique twin boundaries (TBs) and multiple stacking faults, leading to low overpotentials for methane (CH4) and high efficiency for ethylene (C2H4) production. To be specific, SD-Cu NPs show 0.149 V lower an onset potential for CH4 production than commercial Cu NPs, and 52.43%±6.87 faradaic efficiency (FE) for C2H4 production at -0.993±0.0129 V. In addition, a DFT based fundamental study of why the sites on the SD-Cu NPs lead to understanding about such dramatically improved performance.

Unique star decahedron Cu nanocatalyst with highly active hydrocarbon production

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.