[Nat. Mater.] Bio-inspired hydrophobicity promotes CO2 reduction on a Cu surface
We reported that a superhydrophobic surface was generated by 1-octadecanethiol treatment of hierarchically structured Cu dendrites, inspired by the structure of gas-trapping cuticles on subaquatic spiders. The hydrophobic electrode attained a 56% Faradaic efficiency for ethylene and 17% for ethanol production at neutral pH, compared to 9% and 4% on a hydrophilic, wettable equivalent.
We concluded that hydrophobicity, and the resultant gas-filled voids that it introduces, is a governing factor of CO2 reduction selectivity on Cu and should be considered in the future design and understanding of electrocatalytic surfaces for both CO2 and CO reduction.
Nat. Mater. external pageDOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0445-x