Synergy of Cu/C N Interface and Cu Nanoparticles Dual Catalytic Regions in Electrolysis of CO to Acetic Acid.

Electrochemical reduction reaction of carbon monoxide (CORR) offers a promising way to manufacture acetic acid directly from gaseous CO and water at mild condition. Herein, we discovered that the graphitic carbon nitride (g-C N ) supported Cu nanoparticles (Cu-CN) with the appropriate size showed a high acetate faradaic efficiency of 62.8 % with a partial current density of 188 mA cm in CORR. In situ experimental and density functional theory calculation studies revealed that the Cu/C N interface and metallic Cu surface synergistically promoted CORR into acetic acid. The generation of pivotal intermediate -*CHO is advantage around the Cu/C N interface and migrated *CHO facilitates acetic acid generation on metallic Cu surface with promoted *CHO coverage. Moreover, continuous production of acetic acid aqueous solution was achieved in a porous solid electrolyte reactor, indicating the great potential of Cu-CN catalyst in the industrial application.