The electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to multi-carbon products has attracted much attention because it provides an avenue to the synthesis of value-added carbon-based fuels and feedstocks using renewable electricity. Unfortunately, the efficiency of CO₂ conversion to C₂ products remains below that necessary for its implementation at scale. Modifying the local electronic structure of copper with positive valence sites has been predicted to boost conversion to C₂ products. Here, we use boron to tune the ratio of Cu^δ+ to Cu⁰ active sites and improve both stability and C₂-product generation. Simulations show that the ability to tune the average oxidation state of copper enables control over CO adsorption and dimerization, and makes it possible to implement a preference for the electrosynthesis of C₂ products. We report experimentally a C₂ Faradaic efficiency of 79 ± 2% on boron-doped copper catalysts and further show that boron doping leads to catalysts that are stable for in excess of ~40 hours while electrochemically reducing CO₂ to multi-carbon hydrocarbons.

将CO ₂电化学还原为多碳产品备受关注，因为它为利用可再生电力合成增值的碳基燃料和原料提供了途径。不幸的是，CO ₂转化为C ₂产品的效率仍然低于大规模实施所需的效率。据预测，用正价位修饰铜的局部电子结构将促进向C ₂产物的转化。在这里，我们使用硼来调整^Cuδ+与Cu ⁰活性位点的比例，并提高稳定性和C ₂产品生成。仿真表明，调节铜的平均氧化态的能力可以控制CO的吸附和二聚化，并可以实现对C ₂产物的电合成的偏爱。我们通过实验报告了在掺硼铜催化剂上的C ₂法拉第效率为79±2％，并且进一步表明，掺硼导致催化剂在超过40小时的时间内保持稳定，同时将CO ₂电化学还原为多碳烃。