Preferentially Stabilizing the Watershed Intermediates by Adsorbate‐adsorbate Interaction to Accelerate CO₂ Electroreduction to Ethanol

Abstract

Abstract Returning CO 2 to liquid ethanol powered by clean energy offers considerable economic benefits and contributes to reaching the goal of carbon neutrality, but it remains a formidable challenge to achieve high ethanol selectivity due to the inevitable strong competition among various pathways. Herein, an investigation is presented to accelerate CO 2 electroreduction to ethanol via preferentially stabilizing the precarious watershed intermediates ( * CHCOH) by creating strong adsorbate‐adsorbate interaction. The highly ordered CuOx nanoplates (HO‐CuOx NPLs) featuring abundant amorphous‐crystalline interface exhibit an exceptional ethanol Faradaic efficiency (FE EtOH ) of 63.8% and an ethanol‐to‐ethylene ratio of 6.1 at a large ethanol partial current density ( j ethanol ) of 232.8 mA cm −2 . The findings decipher that abundant in‐between nanogaps in the amorphous‐crystalline interface enhance the adsorption of * OH, which can preferentially strengthen C─O bonds while weakening the Cu─C interaction of * CHCOH through adsorbate‐adsorbate interaction, thereby enabling a predilection for CO 2 to ethanol conversion. Beyond an efficient ethanol‐oriented CO 2 RR electrocatalyst, the investigations provide an in‐depth understanding of adsorbate‐adsorbate interaction on key CO 2 RR steps and precise intermediates regulation, which can be extended to a range of energy conversion technologies.