Vitamin C-induced CO2 capture enables high-rate ethylene production in CO2 electroreduction

Abstract

High-rate production of multicarbon chemicals via the electrochemical CO2 reduction can be achieved by efficient CO2 mass transport. A key challenge for C−C coupling in high-current-density CO2 reduction is how to promote *CO formation and dimerization. Here, we report molecularly enhanced CO2-to-*CO conversion and *CO dimerization for high-rate ethylene production. Nanoconfinement of ascorbic acid by graphene quantum dots enables immobilization and redox reversibility of ascorbic acid in heterogeneous electrocatalysts. Cu nanowire with ascorbic acid nanoconfined by graphene quantum dots (cAA-CuNW) demonstrates high-rate ethylene production with a Faradaic efficiency of 60.7% and a partial current density of 539 mA/cm2, a 2.9-fold improvement over that of pristine CuNW. Furthermore, under low CO2 ratio of 33%, cAA-CuNW still exhibits efficient ethylene production with a Faradaic efficiency of 41.8%. We find that cAA-CuNW increases *CO coverage and optimizes the *CO binding mode ensemble between atop and bridge for efficient C−C coupling. A mechanistic study reveals that ascorbic acid can facilitate *CO formation and dimerization by favorable electron and proton transfer with strong hydrogen bonding. © 2024, The Author(s).