Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO 2 to Ethane over Nitrogen-Doped Fe 2 O 3 .

Non-copper electrocatalysts are seldom reported to generate C 2+ products, and the efficiency over these catalysts is low. In this work, we report a nitrogen-doped γ-Fe 2 O 3 ( x Fe 2 O 3 -N@CN) electrocatalyst, which yield C 2 H 6 as the major product in an H-cell. At -2.0 V vs Ag/Ag + , the Faradaic efficiency (FE) for ethane reaches 42% with a current density of 32 mA cm -2 . This is the first report about selective CO 2 reduction to ethane (C 2 H 6 ) over an iron-based catalyst. The results showed that the catalyst possessing FeO 1.5- n N n sites enriched with oxygen vacancies was beneficial for the stabilization of *COOH intermediates. The exposure of two adjacent surfaces of Fe atoms was conducive to lowering the energy barrier for C-C coupling over FeO 1.5- n N n sites, facilitating the generation of C 2 H 6 . This work provides a strategy for the design of a novel iron-based catalyst with tunable local coordination and electronic structures for converting CO 2 into C 2 products in the CO 2 RR.