Cold plasma activated Cu–Co multi-active centers tandem catalysts for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 into C2H4

Abstract

Copper is a mono-metallic catalyst to produce large amounts of hydrocarbons during the CO2 electrochemical reduction reaction (CO2RR). Nevertheless, the high overpotential of the reaction process and the low selectivity of currently known catalysts for multi-carbon (or single) products still prevent this process from approaching commercialization. Here, we report the synthesis of different ratios of Cu/Co catalysts with multiple active centers treated with H2 cold plasma. The resultant Cu2Co1 catalyst showed a high current density of 20.7 mA cm−2 and a Faraday efficiency of 70 % for C2H4. This Cu–Co bimetallic multi active center structure is conducive to the generation of *CO and further coupling to form C2 products, thereby improving the selectivity of C2H4. This study provides a new way to design multi-active center tandem catalysts for the efficient production of C2H4 products.