Amorphous urchin-like copper@nanosilica hybrid for efficient CO_(2) electroreduction to C2+ products

Currently most of research efforts for selective electrocatalysis CO_(2) reduction to C2+products have relied on crystalline Cu-based catalysts;amorphous Cu with abundant low-coordinated atoms holds greater promise for this conversion yet remains relatively underexplored.Here we report an amorphous urchin-like Cu@nanosilica hybrid synthesized by electrostatic coupling Si polyanions with Cu salt in hydrothermal processes.The Cu@nanosilica electrocatalyst displays excellent CO_(2) electroreduction activity and selectivity with a Faradic efficiency of 70.5%for C2+product production,and higher stability compared to the crystalline Cu counterpart.The solar-driven CO_(2) electrolysis yields an energy efficiency of 20%for C2+product production.Mechanism study reveals that the urchin-like Cu@nanosilica catalyst with amorphous Cu/Cu^(+)dispersion enhances CO_(2) adsorption and activation to facilitate generation of CO_(2)^(-)*and possible CO^(*)intermediates,and suppresses hydrogen evolution concurrently.The combined effects of both aspects promote efficient C2+product production from CO_(2) electroreduction.