Synthesis of n-Propanol from CO 2 Electroreduction on Bicontinuous Cu 2 O/Cu Nanodomains.

n-propanol is an important pharmaceutical and pesticide intermediate. To produce n-propanol by electrochemical reduction of CO 2 is a promising way, but is largely restricted by the very low selectivity and activity. How to promote the coupling of *C 1 and *C 2 intermediates to form the *C 3 intermediate for n-propanol formation is challenging. Here, we propose the construction of bicontinuous structure of Cu 2 O/Cu electrocatalyst, which consists of ultra-small Cu 2 O nanodomains, Cu nanodomains and large amounts of grain boundaries between Cu 2 O and Cu nanodomains. The n-propanol current density is as high as 101.6 mA cm -2 at the applied potential of -1.1 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in flow cell, with the Faradaic efficiency up to 12.1 %. Moreover, the catalyst keeps relatively stable during electrochemical CO 2 reduction process. Experimental studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the bicontinuous structure of Cu 2 O/Cu can facilitate the *CO formation, *CO-*CO coupling and *CO-*OCCO coupling for the final generation of n-propanol.