Identifying an Interfacial Stabilizer for Regeneration-Free 300 h Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to C2 Products

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to produce high value-added hydrocarbons and oxygenates presents a sustainable and compelling approach toward a carbon-neutral society. However, uncontrollable migration of active sites during the electrochemical CO2RR limits its catalytic ability to simultaneously achieve high C2 selectivity and ultradurability. Here, we demonstrate that the generated interfacial CuAlO2 species can efficiently stabilize the highly active sites over the Cu-CuAlO2-Al2O3 catalyst under harsh electrochemical conditions without active sites regeneration for a long-term test. We show that this unique Cu-CuAlO2-Al2O3 catalyst exhibits ultradurable electrochemical CO2RR performance with an 85% C2 Faradaic efficiency for a 300 h test. Such a simple interfacial engineering design approach unveiled in this work would be adaptable to develop various ultradurable catalysts for industrial-scale electrochemical CO2RR.