Molecular tuning of CO₂-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 sources¹. However, the highly selective generation of economically desirable products such as ethylene from the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO₂RR) remains a challenge². Tuning the stabilities of intermediates to favour a desired reaction pathway can improve selectivity^3–5, and this has recently been explored for the reaction on copper by controlling morphology⁶, grain boundaries⁷, facets⁸, oxidation state⁹ and dopants¹⁰. 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 far⁹), 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 CO₂RR 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 arylpyridiniums¹¹, 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 CO₂RR 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.