Promoting CO2 Electroreduction Over Nano‐Socketed Cu/Perovskite Heterostructures via A‐Site‐Valence‐Controlled Oxygen Vacancies

Abstract

AbstractDespite the intriguing potential, nano‐socketed Cu/perovskite heterostructures for CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR) are still in their infancy and rational optimization of their CO2RR properties is lacking. Here, an effective strategy is reported to promote CO2‐to‐C2+ conversion over nano‐socketed Cu/perovskite heterostructures by A‐site‐valence‐controlled oxygen vacancies. For the proof‐of‐concept catalysts of Cu/La0.3‐xSr0.6+xTiO3‐δ (x from 0 to 0.3), their oxygen vacancy concentrations increase controllably with the decreased A‐site valences (or the increased x values). In flow cells, their activity and selectivity for C2+ present positive correlations with the oxygen vacancy concentrations. Among them, the Cu/Sr0.9TiO3‐δ with most oxygen vacancies shows the optimal activity and selectivity for C2+. And relative to the Cu/La0.3Sr0.6TiO3‐δ with minimum oxygen vacancies, the Cu/Sr0.9TiO3‐δ exhibits marked improvements (up to 2.4 folds) in activity and selectivity for C2+. The experiments and theoretical calculations suggest that the optimized performance can be attributed to the merits provided by oxygen vacancies, including the accelerated charge transfer, enhanced adsorption/activation of reaction species, and reduced energy barrier for C─C coupling. Moreover, when explored in a membrane‐electrode assembly electrolyzer, the Cu/Sr0.9TiO3‐δ catalyst shows excellent activity, selectivity (43.9%), and stability for C2H4 at industrial current densities, being the most effective perovskite‐based catalyst for CO2‐to‐C2H4 conversion.