Evaluating the efficacy of nanosized CuZnAl and CuZnZr mixed oxides for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction.

The increased awareness of carbon management has prompted the scientific community towards delivering sustainable catalytic technologies, preferably from CO 2 . Copper-based multifunctional catalysts are the most frequently used for thermal hydrogenation and electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 (CO 2 R) processes. To improve the understanding and efficacy of these materials for the CO 2 R reaction, Cu-Zn oxides combined with Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 were synthesized by the coprecipitation method and annealed at 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C ( i.e. , Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 - x and Cu/ZnO/ZrO 2 systems- x , where x is the annealing temperature) to tune their multi-functionality. We demonstrate that the composition of Cu-Zn oxides and pretreatment temperature impact the electrocatalytic CO 2 R performance, where CuZnZr-600 and CuZnAl-700 materials are superior. Different characterization tools were employed to rationalize the results described in this work, which could provide a way to design an efficient catalytic system for the CO 2 R process.