Rod-Like Nanostructured Cu–Co Spinel with Rich Oxygen Vacancies for Efficient Electrocatalytic Dechlorination

Dichloromethane (CH 2 Cl 2 ) hydrodechlorination to methane (CH 4 ) is a promising approach to remove the halogenated contaminants and generate clean energy. In this work, rod-like nanostructured CuCo 2 O 4 spinels with rich oxygen vacancies are designed for highly efficient electrochemical reduction dechlorination of dichloromethane. Microscopy characterizations revealed that the special rod-like nanostructure and rich oxygen vacancies can efficiently enhance surface area, electronic/ionic transport, and expose more active sites. The experimental tests demonstrated that CuCo 2 O 4 -3 with rod-like nanostructures outperformed other morphology of CuCo 2 O 4 spinel nanostructures in catalytic activity and product selectivity. The highest methane production of 148.84 μmol in 4 h with a Faradaic efficiency of 21.61% at −2.94 V (vs SCE) is shown. Furthermore, the density function theory proved oxygen vacancies significantly decreased the energy barrier to promote the catalyst in the reaction and O v -Cu was the main active site in dichloromethane hydrodechlorination. This work explores a promising way to synthesize the highly efficient electrocatalysts, which may be an effective catalyst for dichloromethane hydrodechlorination to methane.