Enhancing CO2 electrolysis through engineering atomic oxygen transfer at interfaces

Solid oxide carbon dioxide electrolyser may play a key role in transforming our global energy landscape into a carbon-neutral energy cycle. However, the dominant process of oxygen transfer at interfaces generally controls electrode activity. This article reports a generic method that pertains to oxygen transfer engineering at interfaces so as to enhance CO2 electrolysis via cooperative control of interface architectures, materials compositions and materials functionalities. The strong coupling of oxygen vacancy with metal nanoparticles significantly enhances oxygen transfer constants by similar to 10 times at NixCu1-x-La0.2Sr0.8Ti0.9Mn0.1O3+delta interfaces. Electrode activity therefore demonstrates a strong dependence on oxygen transfer at interface. It is observed that the nano structured cathode could maintain exceptionally high performance when it works at high temperature operation after 500 h as well as 10 redox cycles. This work provides an in-depth understanding of electrode activity and a general guidance of metal-oxide interfaces for designing nanostructured electrodes.