Selective ethane production from carbon dioxide enabled by Cu-Ga plates with large-scale manufacturing capability

Abstract

Catalysts for CO2 electroreduction to poly carbon products are urgently needed to mitigate the greenhouse effect. In this work, a simple method suitable for industry production has been proposed for manufacturing the Cu-5Ga alloy plates to achieve efficient CO2 reduction. The prepared Cu-Ga plates show uneven surfaces and pores to enhance the catalytic performance. Interestingly, the final catalyst can achieve a good selectivity of C2H6 product with a Faradaic efficiency of 36% at −0.45 VRHE, showing an average total current density of ∼−2.5 mA cm−2. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the favourable C2H6 selectivity by Cu-5Ga is due to the strong adsorption of *CO and the prominent carbon–carbon coupling on the alloy.