Sn-modified Cu nanosheets catalyze CO2 reduction to C2H4 efficiently by stabilizing CO intermediates and promoting CC coupling

Hongfei Wang; Fusen Zhang; Yang Li; Yingping Pang; Xiqiang Zhao; Zhanlong Song; Wenlong Wang; Jing Sun; Yanpeng Mao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.117

Sn-modified Cu nanosheets catalyze CO₂ reduction to C₂H₄ efficiently by stabilizing CO intermediates and promoting CC coupling

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2025 Jan 15;678(Pt C):506-514. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.117. Epub 2024 Sep 15.

Authors

Hongfei Wang¹, Fusen Zhang¹, Yang Li¹, Yingping Pang¹, Xiqiang Zhao², Zhanlong Song¹, Wenlong Wang¹, Jing Sun¹, Yanpeng Mao¹

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Reducing Emissions from Coal Combustion, Engineering Research Center of Environmental Thermal Technology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Carbon Reduction and Resource Utilization, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Reducing Emissions from Coal Combustion, Engineering Research Center of Environmental Thermal Technology of Ministry of Education, Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Carbon Reduction and Resource Utilization, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China. Electronic address: zxq@sdu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39305618
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.117

Abstract

Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) is a process in which CO₂ is reduced to high-value-added C₁ and C₂ energy sources, particularly ethylene (C₂H₄), thereby supporting carbon-neutral recycling with minimal consumption. This makes it a promising technology with significant potential. Nevertheless, the low selectivity for C₂H₄ remains a significant challenge in practical applications. In this paper, a strategy based on Cu-Sn bimetallic catalysts is proposed to improve the selectivity of electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ to C₂H₄ over Cu-based catalysts. The experimental results show that the Faradaic efficiency (FE) of C₂H₄ can reach up to 48.74 %, and the FE of C₂ product reaches 60 %, at which time the local current density is 11.99 mA/cm². Compared with pure Cu catalyst, the FE and local current density of C₂H₄ increased by 55.27 % and 35.33 %, respectively. Moreover, the FE of C₂H₄ remained above 40 % after 8 h over Cu₁₀-Sn catalyst. The addition of Sn facilitates the transfer of local electrons from Cu to Sn, stabilizes the *CO intermediate, promotes CC coupling, significantly lowers the reaction energy barrier, and enables highly efficient CO₂RR catalysis for C₂H₄ production.

Keywords: C(2)H(4); CO(2)RR; Cu–Sn catalysts; DFT.