A Sulfur‐Doped Copper Catalyst with Efficient Electrocatalytic Formate Generation during the Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Abstract Catalysts involving post‐transition metals have shown almost invincible performance on generating formate in electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). Conversely, Cu without post‐transition metals has struggled to achieve comparable activity. In this study, a sulfur (S)‐doped‐copper (Cu)‐based catalyst is developed, exhibiting excellent performance in formate generation with a maximum Faradaic efficiency of 92 % and a partial current density of 321 mA cm −2 . Ex situ structural elucidations reveal the presence of abundant grain boundaries and high retention of S−S bonds from the covellite phase during CO 2 RR. Furthermore, thermodynamic calculations demonstrate that S−S bonds can moderate the binding energies with various intermediates, further improving the activity of the formate pathway. This work is significant in modifying a low‐cost catalyst (Cu) with a non‐metallic element (S) to achieve comparable performance to mainstream catalysts for formate generation in industrial grade.