Molecular tuning of CO 2 -to-ethylene conversion

The electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, powered by renewable electricity, to produce valuable fuels and feedstocks provides a sustainable and carbon-neutral approach to the storage of energy produced by intermittent renewable sources . However, the highly selective generation of economically desirable products such as ethylene from the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO RR) remains a challenge . Tuning the stabilities of intermediates to favour a desired reaction pathway can improve selectivity , and this has recently been explored for the reaction on copper by controlling morphology , grain boundaries , facets , oxidation state and dopants . Unfortunately, the Faradaic efficiency for ethylene is still low in neutral media (60 per cent at a partial current density of 7 milliamperes per square centimetre in the best catalyst reported so far ), resulting in a low energy efficiency. Here we present a molecular tuning strategy-the functionalization of the surface of electrocatalysts with organic molecules-that stabilizes intermediates for more selective CO RR to ethylene. Using electrochemical, operando/in situ spectroscopic and computational studies, we investigate the influence of a library of molecules, derived by electro-dimerization of arylpyridiniums , adsorbed on copper. We find that the adhered molecules improve the stabilization of an 'atop-bound' CO intermediate (that is, an intermediate bound to a single copper atom), thereby favouring further reduction to ethylene. As a result of this strategy, we report the CO RR to ethylene with a Faradaic efficiency of 72 per cent at a partial current density of 230 milliamperes per square centimetre in a liquid-electrolyte flow cell in a neutral medium. We report stable ethylene electrosynthesis for 190 hours in a system based on a membrane-electrode assembly that provides a full-cell energy efficiency of 20 per cent. We anticipate that this may be generalized to enable molecular strategies to complement heterogeneous catalysts by stabilizing intermediates through local molecular tuning.