Yin, Zhouyang Yu, Chao Zhao, Zhonglong Guo, Xuefeng Shen, Mengqi Li, Na Muzzio, Michelle Li, Junrui Liu, Hu Lin, Honghong Yin, Jie Lu, Gang Su, Dong Sun, Shouheng Cu<sub>3</sub>N Nanocubes for Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> to Ethylene Understanding the Cu-catalyzed electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> reduction reaction (CO<sub>2</sub>RR) under ambient conditions is both fundamentally interesting and technologically important for selective CO<sub>2</sub>RR to hydrocarbons. Current Cu catalysts studied for the CO<sub>2</sub>RR can show high activity but tend to yield a mixture of different hydrocarbons, posing a serious challenge on using any of these catalysts for selective CO<sub>2</sub>RR. Here, we report a new perovskite-type copper­(I) nitride (Cu<sub>3</sub>N) nanocube (NC) catalyst for selective CO<sub>2</sub>RR. The 25 nm Cu<sub>3</sub>N NCs show high CO<sub>2</sub>RR selectivity and stability to ethylene (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>) at −1.6 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) with the Faradaic efficiency of 60%, mass activity of 34 A/g, and C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>/CH<sub>4</sub> molar ratio of >2000. More detailed electrochemical characterization, X-ray photon spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations suggest that the high CO<sub>2</sub>RR selectivity is likely a result of (100) Cu­(I) stabilization by the Cu<sub>3</sub>N structure, which favors CO–CHO coupling on the (100) Cu<sub>3</sub>N surface, leading to selective formation of C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>. Our study presents a good example of utilizing metal nitrides as highly efficient nanocatalysts for selective CO<sub>2</sub>RR to hydrocarbons that will be important for sustainable chemistry/energy applications. Cu 3 N structure;25 nm Cu 3 N NCs show;ambient conditions;RHE;C 2 H 4;CO 2;electrochemical  characterization X-ray photon spectroscopy;Cu 3 N Nanocubes;hydrogen electrode;Cu 3 N;CO 2 RR;CH;theory calculations;Current Cu catalysts;CO 2 RR selectivity;Faradaic efficiency;metal nitrides;Cu-catalyzed electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction;Selective Electrochemical Reduction 2019-11-08
    https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Cu_sub_3_sub_N_Nanocubes_for_Selective_Electrochemical_Reduction_of_CO_sub_2_sub_to_Ethylene/10274810
10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b03324.s001