While copper-based electrocatalysts
are strong contenders for the
electrochemical reduction of CO2 (ERCO2) to
C1 products (CO and formic acid) as feedstock for the energy
and industry, their selectivity is a tricky issue. Herein, we propose
a strategy to modulate the selectivity by equipped with various functional
groups (N–, G–, −COOH, −NH2, and −OH) to affect the adsorption of key intermediates on
the surface of Cu-based electrocatalysts. Among these as-prepared
catalysts, the catalysts equipped with N– and −OH functional
groups show excellent catalytic performance for ERCO2 with
nearly 90% selectivities for C1 products. Moreover, the
N– functional group has favorable formate selectivity when
compared with the pristine Cu-based electrocatalyst. By investigating
the catalysts’ electrochemical performance, it is demonstrated
that the interactions between functional groups and catalytic active
sites are critical in regulating the catalytic selectivity of electrocatalysts.
According to economic feasibility analysis, it is further proven that
this design principle can be applied on a larger scale.
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