ABSTRACT Electrochemical CO 2 capture technology holds promise for CO 2 utilization from industrial flue gases. However, its practical application is currently hindered by the lack of efficient and CO‐tolerant cathodic catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this work, we propose an electronic structure modulation strategy to enhance the ORR activity of CO‐tolerant Co 2 MnO 4 catalyst by ordered mesoporous nitrogen‐doped carbon (OMNC). The promoted charge transfer from Co 2 MnO 4 to OMNC leads to an upshifted d ‐band center. This electronic modulation is accompanied by excellent ORR performance with a half‐wave potential of 0.791 V and a high diffusion limited current density of 5.889 mA cm −2 . The catalyst enables efficient high‐purity CO 2 production (98.6%) in a membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer, with minimal voltage increase under CO‐containing atmosphere. This achievement highlights the significance of electronic structure engineering in designing robust ORR catalysts for practical electrochemical CO 2 capture systems.
Yu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.