Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ into C1 and C2 Hydrocarbons Using Dendritic Cu and Cu₂O Electrodes

Electroreduction of carbon dioxide to C1 and C2 hydrocarbons has emerged as an efficient way to utilize carbon dioxide and maintain the broken carbon-cycle in the environment. Copper is a promising catalyst for such a purpose. The selectivity and stability of hydrocarbon production is still a challenge. Here we propose a simple one-step electro-deposition of copper followed by annealing in air, in which the dendritic structures of Cu and Cu₂O electrodes have been prepared, to enhance the copper-electrode properties in terms of morphology, selectivity, stability, and electrochemical performance. The selectivity of ethylene using modified dendritic Cu₂O electrodes remains stable (from 19.21 % to 18.01 %) after the course of over 10 hours by applying a constant potential of −1.4 V. Our finding suggests a promising lead for the design of practical catalytic electrodes for the fuel synthesis with electrochemical CO₂ reduction.