Grain Boundary-Derived Cu + /Cu 0 Interfaces in CuO Nanosheets for Low Overpotential Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction to Ethylene.

Electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction can be used to produce value-added hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals by coupling with clean electrical energy. However, highly active, selective, and energy-efficient CO 2 conversion to multicarbon hydrocarbons, such as C 2 H 4 , remains challenging because of the lack of efficient catalysts. Herein, an ultrasonication-assisted electrodeposition strategy to synthesize CuO nanosheets for low-overpotential CO 2 electroreduction to C 2 H 4 is reported. A high C 2 H 4 Faradaic efficiency of 62.5% is achieved over the CuO nanosheets at a small potential of -0.52 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, corresponding to a record high half-cell cathodic energy efficiency of 41%. The selectivity toward C 2 H 4 is maintained for over 60 h of continuous operation. The CuO nanosheets are prone to in situ restructuring during CO 2 reduction, forming abundant grain boundaries (GBs). Stable Cu + /Cu 0 interfaces are derived from the low-coordinated Cu atoms in the reconstructed GB regions and act as highly active sites for CO 2 reduction at low overpotentials. In situ Raman spectroscopic analysis and density functional theory computation reveal that the Cu + /Cu 0 interfaces offer high *CO surface coverage and lower the activation energy barrier for *CO dimerization, which, in synergy, facilitates CO 2 reduction to C 2 H 4 at low overpotentials.