Electrocatalytic CH4 production from CO2 by SiO2-induced amorphous CuOx

CH 4 , as an important clean fuel and hydrogen carrier, its production from CO 2 driven by renewable energy could simultaneously achieve energy supply, CO 2 emission reduction, and renewable energy consumption, which is of great significance. Electrocatalytic CH 4 production relies on high-valence Cu species for realizing multielectron reduction, while facing inadequate performance stability due to the reconstruction tendency of Cu. Herein, an amorphous CuO x -SiO 2 catalyst (amorCuO x -SiO 2 ) is synthesized via an electrostatic interaction strategy to construct stable Cu 2+ active sites for efficient electrocatalytic CH 4 production. AmorCuO x -SiO 2 shows a good reconstruction resistance during electroreduction, confirmed via X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies, endowing a 63.7% CH 4 faradaic efficiency at 500 mA cm −2 , which is 7.8 folds of crystalized CuO x -SiO 2 (crysCuO x -SiO 2 ). Theoretical calculations revealed that stable Cu 2+ active sites enhanced *CO adsorption and were more susceptible for further hydrogenation, thus promoting the CO 2 -to-CH 4 conversion. Our findings provide a feasible strategy for developing reconstruction-resistant electrocatalysts for advanced CH 4 production performance.