High Selectivity for Ethylene from Carbon Dioxide Reduction over Copper Nanocube Electrocatalysts

Nanostructured surfaces have been shown to greatly enhance the activity and selectivity of many different catalysts. Here we report a nanostructured copper surface that gives high selectivity for ethylene formation from electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction. The nanostructured copper is easily formed in situ during the CO₂ reduction reaction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows the surface to be dominated by cubic structures. Using online electrochemical mass spectrometry (OLEMS), the onset potentials and relative selectivity toward the volatile products (ethylene and methane) were measured for several different copper surfaces and single crystals, relating the cubic shape of the copper surface to the greatly enhanced ethylene selectivity. The ability of the cubic nanostructure to so strongly favor multicarbon product formation from CO₂ reduction, and in particular ethylene over methane, is unique to this surface and is an important step toward developing a catalyst that has exclusive selectivity for multicarbon products.