Synthesis of n‐Propanol from CO₂ Electroreduction on Bicontinuous Cu₂O/Cu Nanodomains

Abstract

n-propanol is an important pharmaceutical and pesticide intermediate. To produce n-propanol by electrochemical reduction of CO₂ is a promising way, but is largely restricted by the very low selectivity and activity. How to promote the coupling of *C₁ and *C₂ intermediates to form the *C₃ intermediate for n-propanol formation is challenging. Here, we propose the construction of bicontinuous structure of Cu₂O/Cu electrocatalyst, which consists of ultra-small Cu₂O nanodomains, Cu nanodomains and large amounts of grain boundaries between Cu₂O and Cu nanodomains. The n-propanol current density is as high as 101.6 mA cm^-2 at the applied potential of -1.1 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in flow cell, with the Faradaic efficiency up to 12.1 %. Moreover, the catalyst keeps relatively stable during electrochemical CO₂ reduction process. Experimental studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the bicontinuous structure of Cu₂O/Cu can facilitate the *CO formation, *CO-*CO coupling and *CO-*OCCO coupling for the final generation of n-propanol.