A Facile In Situ Electroreduction to Construct a Nanoporous Silver Foams Membrane Electrode for Efficient CO ₂ Reduction

The catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) method yields electrodes with reduced interfacial contact resistance, an advantage that renders them highly promising for efficient CO2 electroreduction. In this study, a nanoporous silver foam (AgNFs) membrane electrode was successfully fabricated using the CCM method, which involved direct deposition of a silver acetate precursor onto an anion exchange membrane followed by in situ electrochemical reduction. During the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction, the AgNFs/CNTs-CCM electrode demonstrated exceptional overall performance, achieving a Faradaic efficiency for CO exceeding 83% and an absolute current density greater than 100 mA·cm–2. Its performance was significantly superior to that of electrodes prepared by the catalyst-coated gas diffusion layer method and conventional membrane electrodes fabricated with commercial silver particles. This work confirms that the combination of CCM with in situ reduction can effectively construct high-performance catalytic interfaces, providing a valuable pathway for advancing CO2 electrolysis technology.