Five-fold twinned copper nanowire gas diffusion electrodes for electrochemical CO₂ reduction with enhanced C₂ product selectivity and stability

Chen, Hsin-Yu, Siritanaratkul, Bhavin ORCID: 0000-0003-0604-7670, Liao, Chien-Neng and Cowan, Alexander J ORCID: 0000-0001-9032-3548 (2025) Five-fold twinned copper nanowire gas diffusion electrodes for electrochemical CO₂ reduction with enhanced C₂ product selectivity and stability SUSTAINABLE ENERGY & FUELS, 9 (21). pp. 5904-5914. ISSN 2398-4902, 2398-4902

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Abstract

Copper nanowires with fivefold twinned structures (t-CuNWs) are shown to be effective as cathode catalysts for the electrochemical CO<inf>2</inf> reduction reaction (CO<inf>2</inf>RR) in a zero-gap electrolyzer to produce ethylene. The t-CuNWs, with surfaces enclosed by (100) facets, were selected for their enhanced CO adsorption strength, which along with the presence of the twin boundary defects, are proposed to promote C-C coupling—a key pathway toward multi-carbon (C<inf>2</inf>) products. We also find that the entangled t-CuNWs exhibit enhanced hydrophobicity when compared to commercial Cu nanoparticles (CuNPs), which reduces electrode flooding and contributes to enhance the stability of the cathode. These characteristics distinguish t-CuNWs from CuNPs in terms of activity (overpotential, selectivity) and stability. The t-CuNWs exhibited ∼40% C<inf>2</inf>H<inf>4</inf> Faradaic efficiency (FE) for more than 4 hours under a current density of 100 mA cm⁻², while commercial CuNPs exhibited ∼20% C<inf>2</inf>H<inf>4</inf> FE for less than 4 hours and the CuNPs devices consistently required increased operating voltages. These findings highlight the potential of (100) faceted t-CuNWs for C<inf>2</inf> product formation in CO<inf>2</inf>RR with facet engineering and hydrophobicity control.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	40 Engineering, 4016 Materials Engineering, 34 Chemical Sciences, 3406 Physical Chemistry
Divisions:	Faculty of Science & Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Sep 2025 10:05
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 20:05
DOI:	10.1039/d5se01129a
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3194477
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