Ag@Cu with Cu–CuO interface prepared by air cold-plasma promoting the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to low-carbon alcohols

Bimetallic catalysts catalyst was potential catalyst for electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) to produce liquid fuel. Adjusting the adsorption energy of intermediates on bimetallic catalysts was very effective to improve the selectivity of electroreduction of CO2 to low-carbon alcohols. However, it was difficult to further increase the yield of low-carbon alcohols by adjusting the content ratio between metals alone. Here, in vacuum environment, we use low temperature plasma technology to treat [email protected] catalyst to form Cu–CuO interface on the catalyst surface, so that the selectivity and activity of the reaction were further enhanced. The performance of CO2RR was effectively improved by the surface Cu–CuO interface. CO2RR tests show that at −0.8 V vs RHE, the faraday efficiency of low-carbon alcohols of [email protected] catalyst was the highest of 65.5%, which was 19.9% higher than that of [email protected] In addition, the linear sweep voltammetry test showed that the current density of CO2RR increased by 2 times, indicating that the surface Cu–CuO interface promoted the activation of CO2 on the surface of the catalyst and improved the intrinsic activity. This work introduces a technique of preparing surface Cu–CuO interface to adjust the adsorption energy of CO2RR intermediates, which provides a new idea for the development of efficient CO2RR catalysts.