Abstract
Bimetallic silver-copper electrocatalysts are promising materials for electrochemical CO(2) reduction reaction (CO(2)RR) to fuels and multi-carbon molecules. Here, we combine Ag core/porous Cu shell particles, which entrap reaction intermediates and thus facilitate the formation of C(2+) products at low overpotentials, with gas diffusion electrodes (GDE). Mass transport plays a crucial role in the product selectivity in CO(2)RR. Conventional H-cell configurations suffer from limited CO(2) diffusion to the reaction zone, thus decreasing the rate of the CO(2)RR. In contrast, in the case of GDE-based cells, the CO(2)RR takes place under enhanced mass transport conditions. Hence, investigation of the Ag core/porous Cu shell particles at the same potentials under different mass transport regimes reveals: (i) a variation of product distribution including C(3) products, and (ii) a significant change in the local OH(-) activity under operation.