Synthesis of n-Propanol from CO Electroreduction on Bicontinuous CuO/Cu Nanodomains.

n-propanol is an important pharmaceutical and pesticide intermediate. To produce n-propanol by electrochemical reduction of CO is a promising way, but is largely restricted by the very low selectivity and activity. How to promote the coupling of *C and *C intermediates to form the *C intermediate for n-propanol formation is challenging. Here, we propose the construction of bicontinuous structure of CuO/Cu electrocatalyst, which consists of ultra-small CuO nanodomains, Cu nanodomains and large amounts of grain boundaries between CuO and Cu nanodomains. The n-propanol current density is as high as 101.6 mA cm at the applied potential of -1.1 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode in flow cell, with the Faradaic efficiency up to 12.1 %. Moreover, the catalyst keeps relatively stable during electrochemical CO reduction process. Experimental studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the bicontinuous structure of CuO/Cu can facilitate the *CO formation, *CO-*CO coupling and *CO-*OCCO coupling for the final generation of n-propanol.