Achieving strong chemical adsorption ability for efficient carbon dioxide electrolysis

[Display omitted] •Cu-doped (La0.2Sr0.8)0.95Ti0.65-xMn0.35CuxO3-δ(LSTMC)are firstly evaluated as SOEC cathode.•LSTMC greatly enhances the catalytic activity by enhancing the chemisorption of CO2.•The catalytic reaction mechanisms of LSTMC are discussed.•A max electrolytic current density of 2.33 A cm−2 is obtained under 1.8 V at 800 °C. Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is a promising technology to efficiently convert carbon dioxide. However, the lack of suitable cathode, with desirable catalytic activity, limits the advancement of SOEC. Herein, we report a novel (La0.2Sr0.8)0.95Ti0.65-xMn0.35CuxO3-δ (LSTMCx, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) as a high-performance cathode, co-doped with hetero-valent Cu and Mn ions at B-site synergistically regulates the surface environment of LST. Cu doping significantly improved the catalytic activity by enhancing the chemisorption of CO2, and Mn doping increased the concentration of oxygen vacancies, resulting in abundant electrochemically active sites. Moreover, the as-prepared LSTMC render a higher electrocatalysis performance (2.33 A cm−2 at 1.8 V and 800 °C) than the previously reported perovskite-based cathodes. In addition, the LSTMC-based single cell did not exhibit any significant performance degradation after long-term stability test (100 h) under pure CO2. Therefore, this newly developed perovskite is considered as a promising cathode for SOEC.