Impact of Pulsed CO2 Electrolysis on Surface Structures and Product Distribution for Oxide-Derived Cu
- 1Laboratory of Inorganic Materials and Catalysis, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
- 2Eindhoven Institute of Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES), Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Abstract
Using potential pulses in Cu-catalyzed CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂RR) has recently shown great promise in steering product selectivity. However, the effect of these pulses on the catalyst structure and, therefore, the formation of C₁ and C₂ products remain unclear. Herein, we altered the applied potential of the anodic pulse and varied the duration of the cathodic CO₂RR pulse to investigate the effect of both the oxidation state and restructuring of an oxide-derived Cu nanoparticle catalyst on the CO₂RR. Shorter cathodic pulses and a higher anodic pulse potential led to a higher ethanol-to-ethylene Faradaic efficiency (FE) ratio, an increase in the C₁ FE, and a suppression of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We tracked the structural evolution of the CuO catalyst by in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) during the (pulsed) CO₂RR. The CuO catalyst was fully reduced under potentiostatic conditions, whereas residual CuO x was detected during pulsed CO₂ electrolysis. Quasi-in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) further emphasized that the surface of the Cu catalyst was significantly impacted by the application of potential pulses, whereby a higher fraction of CuO x was observed with the application of shorter cathodic pulses and higher anodic pulse potentials. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that sintering and defect formation took place during pulsed CO₂RR, resulting in an irreversible morphological change, which was associated with the enhanced formation of C₁ products.
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BibTeX
@article{ligt2026impact,
title = {{Impact of Pulsed CO2 Electrolysis on Surface Structures and Product Distribution for Oxide-Derived Cu}},
author = {Bianca Ligt and Jérôme F M Simons and Jason M J J Heinrichs and Laura B Donk and Marta Costa Figueiredo and Emiel J M Hensen},
journal = {The journal of physical chemistry. C, Nanomaterials and interfaces},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1021/acs.jpcc.6c05013},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13726460},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Impact of Pulsed CO2 Electrolysis on Surface Structures and Product Distribution for Oxide-Derived Cu
AU - Bianca Ligt
AU - Jérôme F M Simons
AU - Jason M J J Heinrichs
AU - Laura B Donk
AU - Marta Costa Figueiredo
AU - Emiel J M Hensen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - The journal of physical chemistry. C, Nanomaterials and interfaces
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6c05013
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13726460
AB - Using potential pulses in Cu-catalyzed CO₂ electroreduction (CO₂RR) has recently shown great promise in steering product selectivity. However, the effect of these pulses on the catalyst structure and, therefore, the formation of C₁ and C₂ products remain unclear. Herein, we altered the applied potential of the anodic pulse and varied the duration of the cathodic CO₂RR pulse to investigate the effect of both the oxidation state and restructuring of an oxide-derived Cu nanoparticle catalyst on the CO₂RR. Shorter cathodic pulses and a higher anodic pulse potential led to a higher ethanol-to-ethylene Faradaic efficiency (FE) ratio, an increase in the C₁ FE, and a suppression of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). We tracked the structural evolution of the CuO catalyst by in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) during the (pulsed) CO₂RR. The CuO catalyst was fully reduced under potentiostatic conditions, whereas residual CuO x was detected during pulsed CO₂ electrolysis. Quasi-in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) further emphasized that the surface of the Cu catalyst was significantly impacted by the application of potential pulses, whereby a higher fraction of CuO x was observed with the application of shorter cathodic pulses and higher anodic pulse potentials. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that sintering and defect formation took place during pulsed CO₂RR, resulting in an irreversible morphological change, which was associated with the enhanced formation of C₁ products.
SN - 1932-7447
SN - 1932-7455
ER -