journal article·2025-08Open access

Hierarchical Cavity Cu Nanostructures with Coordinative Microenvironment Engineering for pH‐Universal Electrocatalytic CO2‐to‐C2+ Conversion

Hu Zang, Yujie Zhao, Changjiang Liu, Haiyan Lu, Nan Yu, Baoyou Geng

Advanced Functional Materials· Volume 35· Issue 35

Abstract

Abstract The rational design of copper‐based electrocatalysts with optimized *CO intermediate coverage and OH⁻‐enriched microenvironments remain critical yet challenging for achieving efficient CO2‐to‐C2+ conversion across varied pH conditions. This study presents a Kirkendall effect‐driven synthesis of hierarchical copper nanostructures featuring precisely engineered cavity architectures and tunable coordination environments. Through systematic coordination number (CN) modulation, it is demonstrated that the d‐band center position of Cu sites is positively correlated with *CO adsorption energy. Specifically, the moderate‐coordinated Cu (111) facets in three‐layered cavity structures (3L‐Cu) exhibit optimal *CO dimerization energetics. Benefiting from the synergistic effects of spatial confinement and ionic diffusion gradients, the 3L‐Cu catalyst establishes self‐sustaining alkaline microdomains even in acidic media (pH 1), as evidenced by in situ Raman spectroscopy. This unique microenvironment engineering enables state‐of‐the‐art C2+ Faradaic efficiencies of 78.74 ± 2.36% (alkaline), 69.33 ± 2.08% (neutral), and 58.32 ± 1.75% (acidic) with sustained stability, outperforming existing pH‐universal CO2RR catalysts. First‐principles calculations further reveal that the multilayer confinement effect of 3L‐Cu reduces the coupling energy barriers of *CO‐*CO and *CO‐*COH in alkaline and acidic electrolytes, respectively. This work establishes a new paradigm for designing adaptive electrocatalysts through coordinated structural and electronic microenvironment control.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts · Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · Advanced battery technologies research

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

College of Chemistry and Materials Science, The Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, The Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Clean Energy of Anhui Higher Education Institutes Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory for New‐Energy Vehicle Battery Energy‐Storage Materials Anhui Normal University Jiuhua Road 189 Wuhu 241002 China

Institute of Energy Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center Hefei 230031 China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China

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