Cu2O/LDH heterojunction derived from CuMgAl-LDH: Enhanced stability of Cu+ in CO2 electroreduction

Abstract

The unique ability of Cu⁺ to enhance C-C coupling makes it important in the field of CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) over Cu-based catalyst, while Cu⁺ is very prone to deactivation. Hereby, we propose a simple and feasible stabilization strategy to stabilize Cu⁺ species through reducing Cu-Mg-Al hydrotalcite by adding ascorbic acid, which owns stable product selectivity in a span of 6 h at −0.95 V vs.RHE. Characterization results show that the excellent stability is promoted by the heterostructure of Cu₂O and hydrotalcite with retained Cu⁺ species, which derives from Cu₂O and slow down the rapid reduction of Cu⁺ to Cu⁰.