Toward Sustainable Olefins: Electroreduction of CO₂ to Multi-Carbon Olefins Using Trimetallic Cu-Rich Catalysts

The sustainable conversion of carbon monoxide (CO 2 ) into value-added chemicals via electrochemical methods, powered by renewable electricity, is considered as a promising approach to meet the global energy demand and close the anthropogenic carbon cycle. However, this technology is in the early stage of development, particularly in the production of multi-carbon (C 2+ ) hydrocarbons due to well-studied thermodynamic and kinetic barriers. To overcome these challenges, developing a catalyst with high activity and selectivity is crucial to minimize energy input and maximize the effectiveness of C 2+ products formation. In this work, we will present our recent advancement on developing non-precious tri-metallic catalysts with copper-rich surface synthesized by our developed atomically controllable and environmentally friendly synthesis method. The developed nanostructured tri-metallic electrocatalysts by this method show remarkable selectivity and activity in the electrochemical conversion of CO 2 to olefins. In particular, our electrochemical results show an overall C 2+ olefine Faradaic efficiency (FE%) of 69% more specifically 58% ethylene and 11% propylene at a current density of -112 mA/cm² under applied potential of -2.8 V in an anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer. To gain a better understanding of the catalytic performance and find a structural-performance relationships for the developed materials, we performed several physicochemical and electrochemical characterization experiments, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We will discuss morphology and atomic structure changes of the developed materials under realistic conditions, with a specific focus on understanding how different trimetallic interfaces influence selectivity and activity in the electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR).