Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) to liquid fuels represents a promising means to store electricity generated from intermittent energy sources. n-Propanol is a particularly appealing CO2R product owing to its high energy contents and economic feasibility, but its production via CO2R is often limited due to the lack of electrocatalysts to stabilize C1 and C2 intermediates simultaneously and to promote their coupling into C3 products. In this presentation, I will discuss the rational design of shape-controlled dilute metal alloy nanocrystal catalysts for efficient CO2R to n-propanol. It was found that the concentration and dispersion state of Au in Au-Cu bimetallic nanocrystals play a crucial role in determining the activity and selectivity of CO2R. Au/Cu nanocrystals with 2% Au exhibited a maximum of 18.2 % Faradaic efficiency and 16.6 mA/cm2 partial current density for n-propanol at low overpotentials. DFT calculations suggest that the incorporation of a small amount of Au lowers the barrier for C1-C2 coupling to n-propanol. Our work demonstrates that Cu-based dilute alloy nanocrystals offer a versatile and promising materials design platform to enable efficient CO2R to value-added products.

Facet-defined dilute alloy nanorods for highly efficient electroreduction of CO2 to n-propanol

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