Elastic strain controlling the activity and selectivity of CO2electroreduction on Cu overlayers

Minshu Du, Xin Zhao, Geju Zhu, Hsien Yi Hsu, Feng Liu, Minshu Du

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cu could reduce CO2into considerable amounts of hydrocarbons, the relative low efficiency and poor selectivity of which should be improved. Engineering the surface strain is a powerful method to improve the catalytic performance, however, generally clouded by the ensemble effect and ligand effect. In this research, we show how the elastic strain in Cu nanofilms varies the activity and selectivity of CO2RR by virtue of the two-way shape memory effect of the NiTi substrate. For a 32 nm Cu overlayer, tensile strain improved the total CO2RR faradaic efficiency from 65.02% to 76.48% and favored CH4generation. For a 5 nm Cu overlayer, strain impacted both HER and CO2RR activities, where compressive strain induced more available active sites for CO2adsorption and resulted in 27% higher faradaic efficiency toward the CO2RR. Based on DFT calculations and the derived positive correlation between free energy change and the energy barrier, the mechanism of strain-controlled electrocatalytic performance was also revealed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4933-4944
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume9
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Feb 2021

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Elastic strain controlling the activity and selectivity of CO2electroreduction on Cu overlayers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this