《Chem. Commun.》: Spatial Confinement Boosts C–C Coupling in Brushed Cu/Ag@CuO NWs for CO₂ Electroreduction into C₂H₄

Chengbin Zhang,+ Wenya Fan,+ Peipei Li,+ Changjing Wang, Mengqian Li, Zequn Han, Qingxia Chen,* and Xingchen Jiao*

Electroreduction of CO₂ into value-added C₂ products holds promise for carbon management and energy sustainability but still suffers from low CO₂ enrichment and poor C₂ product selectivity. Here, we demonstrate an enhanced C–C coupling process to facilitate the C₂ product pathway by locally kinetic concentration of reactant and intermediates through novel spatial confinement. By tuning the density of CuO nanobrushes, Cu/Ag@CuO NWs can optimize the C–C coupling of *CO into C₂H₄, rather than further hydrogenation to CH₄. This work demonstrates a novel strategy to optimize reaction pathways by modulating the confined space and local concentration of reactant and intermediates, which holds significant guidance for the design of novel catalysts and understanding of enhancement of C₂ products selectively in CO₂ electroreduction.

Figure 1.The boosted C–C coupling by the dense nanobrushes on Cu/Ag@CuO NWs.