Work

CO Spillover‐Induced Directed C─C Coupling for CO 2 Electroreduction to Multicarbon Products

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Efficient CO 2 ‐to‐multicarbon (C 2+ ) electroconversion is constrained by sluggish C─C coupling kinetics dependent on adsorbed *CO availability. We demonstrate that direct interfacial *CO spillover across metal‐metal junctions, replacing conventional tandem CO diffusion, governs C 2+ formation on multicomponent Cu‐based catalysts. By engineering CuM (M = Ag, Pd) interfaces with tuned CO‐binding strengths, we establish a quantitative scaling relationship between the *CO spillover rate and C 2+ partial current density. The optimized Cu@Ag catalyst promotes rapid *CO transfer from Ag to adjacent Cu sites, lowering the C─C coupling barrier and achieving ∼90% C 2+ Faradaic efficiency at 600 mA cm −2 in a flow cell. Crucially, cyclic voltammetry under CO and operando attenuated total reflectance surface‐enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy directly capture dynamic *CO migration and the emergence of *COCHO intermediates, providing explicit experimental evidence for spillover‐driven C─C coupling beyond a conceptual model. These results elevate *CO spillover from a qualitative hypothesis to a measurable design descriptor for building multi‐site interfaces toward efficient, selective, and scalable CO 2 ‐to‐C 2+ electroconversion.

Source: Advanced Energy Materials

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202506792