The Electrochemical Conversion of Carbon Dioxide on Cu−Ni Stacked Bilayer Electrodes

Abstract

The product selectivity in the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) strongly depends on the electrode metal. As each metal leads to a characteristic product composition, a multimetallic composite electrode is required for the selective product formation by CO2 conversion. Here, we show the selective CO2 conversion with a current efficiency of 56.2% for the hydrocarbon formation on the Cu–Ni stacked bilayer electrodes. Interestingly, a thinner Ni stacked electrode shows higher selectivity in converting CO2 to hydrocarbons than pristine Cu electrodes, while no hydrocarbon formation carries out on those with thicker Ni deposition or on pristine Ni electrodes. We also demonstrate that the crystal structure of the support Cu electrode significantly contributes to the activity of CO2 conversion, further confirming the importance of the structural arrangement of Cu and Ni in the Cu–Ni stacked bilayer electrodes.