Here, we report synthesis of copper microstructures-based electro-catalyst with controlled morphologies and crystallinity via a rudimentary simple and green electrochemical dissolution method. The variations in the growth pattern of the dendritic shaped Cu microstructures were studied to understand the evolution of Cu dendrites with respect to several electrolysis parameters viz. applied bias voltage, concentration of organic additives, i.e. L-ascorbic acid, and electrolysis time and temperature. We show that these microstructures demonstrate efficient and selective electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into CO along with methane and ethane from CO₂-saturated moistened di-methyl sulfoxide (DMSO) electrolyte solution. Our results establish that the selectivity for C1 or C2 hydrocarbons (methane or ethane) as a major product can be tuned systematically by altering the extent of branching in dendrite microstructures as well as the extent of exposure of (111) and (200) facets. The production of C₁ and C₂ hydrocarbons along with CO in the present study can be ascribed to the availability of protons from the residual water (<0.2 % v/v or ca. 1000 ppm) in hygroscopic DMSO. The optimized dendritic shaped electro-catalyst is perceived to have the fine branching and exposed facets that convert CO₂ into CO with Faradaic Efficiency (F.E.) of 32 %, ethane with F.E. of 29 % and methane with F.E. of 5%. The production of ethane reaches a maximum of 33 % at -1.5 V (NHE), which to the best of our knowledge is the highest reported so far for electroreduction of CO₂ over Cu in organic media.

在这里，我们报告通过基本的简单和绿色电化学溶解方法合成的具有可控形态和结晶度的铜微结构基电催化剂的合成。研究了树枝状铜微结构的生长模式的变化，以了解铜树枝状晶体相对于几个电解参数的演变。施加的偏压，有机添加剂（即L-抗坏血酸）的浓度以及电解时间和温度。我们表明，这些微观结构证明了CO ₂与CO _2中的甲烷和乙烷一起有效且选择性的电化学转化为CO ₂-饱和的湿式二甲基亚砜（DMSO）电解质溶液。我们的结果表明，可以通过改变树枝状微结构中的支化程度以及（111）和（200）面的暴露程度，来系统地调节对C1或C2碳氢化合物（甲烷或乙烷）作为主要产品的选择性。在本研究中，C ₁和C ₂烃与CO的产生可以归因于吸湿DMSO中残留水（<0.2％v / v或约1000 ppm）中质子的可用性。认为优化的树突状电催化剂具有精细的分支和暴露的小面，可转化CO ₂转化为二氧化碳，其法拉第效率（FE）为32％，乙烷的FE为29％，甲烷的FE为5％。在-1.5 V（NHE）时，乙烷的产量最高达到33％，据我们所知，这是迄今为止在有机介质中用Cu电还原Cu ₂以来报道的最高水平。