Enriching Reaction Intermediates in Multishell Structured Copper Catalysts for Boosted Propanol Electrosynthesis from Carbon Monoxide.

Fine-tuned catalysts that alter the diffusion kinetics of reaction intermediates is of great importance for achieving high-performance multicarbon (C) product generation in carbon monoxide (CO) reduction. Herein, we conduct a structural design based on CuO nanoparticles and present an effective strategy for enhancing propanol electrosynthesis from CO. The electrochemical characterization, operando Raman monitoring, and finite-element method simulations reveal that the multishell structured catalyst can realize the enrichment of C and C intermediates by nanoconfinement space, leading to the possibility of further coupling. Consequently, the multishell copper catalyst realizes a high Faraday efficiency of 22.22 ± 0.38% toward propanol at the current density of 50 mA cm.