Organic Additive-derived Films on Cu Electrodes Promote Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction to C₂₊ Products Under Strongly Acidic Conditions

Abstract

Electrochemical CO₂ reduction (CO₂R) at low pH is desired for high CO₂ utilization; the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) remains a challenge. High alkali cation concentration at a high operating current density has recently been used to promote electrochemical CO₂R at low pH. Herein we report an alternative approach to selective CO₂R (>70 % Faradaic efficiency for C₂₊ products, FE_(C2+)) at low pH (pH 2; H₃PO₄/KH₂PO₄) and low potassium concentration ([K⁺]=0.1 M) using organic film-modified polycrystalline copper (Modified-Cu). Such an electrode effectively mitigates HER due to attenuated proton transport. Modified-Cu still achieves high FE_(C2+) (45 % with Cu foil /55 % with Cu GDE) under 1.0 M H₃PO₄ (pH≈1) at low [K⁺] (0.1 M), even at low operating current, conditions where HER can otherwise dominate.

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