Grain-Boundary-Rich Copper for Efficient Solar-Driven Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to Ethylene and Ethanol

Abstract

The grain boundary in copper-based electrocatalysts has been demonstrated to improve the selectivity of solar-driven electrochemical CO₂ reduction toward multicarbon products. However, the approach to form grain boundaries in copper is still limited. This paper describes a controllable grain growth of copper electrodeposition via poly(vinylpyrrolidone) used as an additive. A grain-boundary-rich metallic copper could be obtained to convert CO₂ into ethylene and ethanol with a high selectivity of 70% over a wide potential range. In situ attenuated total reflection surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy unveils that the existence of grain boundaries enhances the adsorption of the key intermediate (*CO) on the copper surface to boost the further CO₂ reduction. When coupling with a commercially available Si solar cell, the device achieves a remarkable solar-to-C2-products conversion efficiency of 3.88% at a large current density of 52 mA·cm^–2. This low-cost and efficient device is promising for large-scale application of solar-driven CO₂ reduction.