Customizing CO₂ Electroreduction by Pulse-Induced Anion Enrichment

Abstract

Electrochemically converting CO₂ into specified high-value products is critical for carbon neutral economics. However, governing the product distribution of the CO₂ electroreduction on Cu-based catalysts remains challenging. Herein, we put forward an anion enrichment strategy to efficiently dictate the route of *CO reduction by a pulsed electrolysis strategy. Upon periodically applying a positive potential on the cathode, the anion concentration in the vicinity of the electrode increases apparently. By adopting KF, KCl, and KHCO₃ as electrolytes, the dominant CO₂ electroreduction product on commercial Cu foil can be tuned into CO (53% ± 2.5), C2+ (76.6 ± 2.1%), and CH₄ (42.6 ± 2.1%) under pulsed electrolysis. Notably, one can delicately tailor the ratios of CO/CH₄, CH₄/C2+, and C2+/CO by simply changing the composition of the electrolyte. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that locally enriched anions can affect the key CO₂RR intermediates in different ways owing to their specific electronegativity and volume, which leads to the distinct selectivity. The present study highlights the importance of tuning ionic species at the electrode-electrolyte interface for customizing the CO₂ electroreduction products.