Enhancing local K + adsorption by high-density cube corners for efficient electroreduction of CO 2 to C 2+ products.

Reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to high value-added chemicals using renewable electricity is a promising approach to reducing CO 2 levels in the air and mitigating the greenhouse effect, which depends on high-efficiency electrocatalysts. Copper-based catalysts can be used for electroreduction of CO 2 to produce C 2+ products with high added value, but suffer from poor stability and low selectivity. Herein, we propose a strategy to enhance the field effect by varying the cubic corner density on the surface of Cu 2 O microspheres for improving the electrocatalytic performance of CO 2 reduction to C 2+ products. Finite element method (FEM) simulation results show that the high density of cubic corners helps to enhance the local electric field, which increases the K + concentration on the catalyst surface. The results of CO 2 electroreduction tests show that the FE C 2+ of the Cu 2 O catalyst with high-density cubic corners is 71% at a partial current density of 497 mA cm -2 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that Cu 2 O (111) and Cu 2 O (110) can effectively reduce the energy barrier of C-C coupling and improve the FE C 2+ at high K + concentrations relative to Cu 2 O (100). This study provides a new perspective for the design and development of efficient CO 2 RR catalysts.