Cited by 1,214CO2 Reduction Techniques and CatalystsCatalysts for Methane ReformingElectrocatalysts for Energy Conversion

Highly selective plasma-activated copper catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction to ethylene

Open access
Mistry, Hemma, Varela, Ana Sofia, Bonifacio, Cecile S., Zegkinoglou, Ioannis, Sinev, Ilya, Choi, Yong-Wook, Kisslinger, Kim, Stach, Eric A. +3 more·2016·Nature Communications

Abstract

There is an urgent need to develop technologies that use renewable energy to convert waste products such as carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels. Carbon dioxide can be electrochemically reduced to hydrocarbons over copper catalysts, although higher efficiency is required. We have developed oxidized copper catalysts displaying lower overpotentials for carbon dioxide electroreduction and record selectivity towards ethylene (60%) through facile and tunable plasma treatments. Herein we provide insight into the improved performance of these catalysts by combining electrochemical measurements with microscopic and spectroscopic characterization techniques. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy and cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy show that copper oxides are surprisingly resistant to reduction and copper + species remain on the surface during the reaction. Our results demonstrate that the roughness of oxide-derived copper catalysts plays only a partial role in determining the catalytic performance, while the presence of copper + is key for lowering the onset potential and enhancing ethylene selectivity.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/ncomms12123

Cites

51 of 51 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Hori Y. in Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry Vol. 42, eds Vayenas C. G., White R. E., Gambao-Aldaco M. E. 89– 189Springer (2008).

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Mistry, H., Varela, A. S., Bonifacio, C. S., Zegkinoglou, I., Sinev, I., Choi, Y.-W., Kisslinger, K., Stach, E. A., Yang, J. C., Strasser, P., & Cuenya, B. R.
Affiliations
  • University of Central Florida (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
  • Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2016-06-30
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
12123-12123
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2470552650
Cited by
1,214
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 44 · 2025: 95 · 2024: 118 · 2023: 133 · 2022: 163 · 2021: 173 · 2020: 176 · 2019: 115 · 2018: 109 · 2017: 76 · 2016: 11
FWCI
28.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (DEAC02-05CH11231, 1207065, 1534630, 1213182, DE-SC0012704)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (-AC02-05CH11231, Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, FG02-03ER15476, DE‐FG02‐, DE‐SC0012704, 05CH11231, No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, DE AC02 05CH11231, DEFG0203ER15476, Contract No: DESC0012704, DEFG0208ER15995, No. DE-SC0012704, SC0012704., FG02-08ER15995, DESC0012653, DE-AC02-)
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DE-AC02-05CH11231, EXC 1069)
  • Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (03SF0523, DE-SC0012704, CO2EKAT, EXC 1069, DE-AC02-05CH11231)
  • Office of Science (No. DE-AC02- 05-CH11231, DE-SC-0012704, No. DE-SC0012704, DEFG0203ER15476, DEAC02–05CH11231, AC02-05CH11231, DE-AC02, 05CH11231, Contract No. DE-SC0012704, SC0012704, Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231)
  • Division of Materials Research (1207065)
  • Division of Chemistry (1213182, 1534630, CHE-1534630, DE-AC02-05CH11231)
  • Basic Energy Sciences (Contract No. DE-SC0012704, DE-AC02, Contract No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, DE- SC0012704, DE-AC02-05CH11231., DE‐SC0012653, No. DE-SC0012704, DE- FG02-08ER15995, DE-FG02, No. DE-AC02-05-CH11231, AC02–05CH11231, SC0012704, DE- FG02-03ER15476)
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory (SC0012704, DE-AC02-05CH11231, No. DE-SC0012704, DE- SC0012704, Contract No. DE-SC0012704, DE-SC0012653)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (AC02‐05CH11231, DE-AC02-05CH11231, DE-SC0012704, No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, 05CH11231)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
  • Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Catalysis › Catalysts for Methane Reforming
  • Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
Keywords
carbon dioxide electroreduction, ethylene selectivity, copper catalysts, plasma treatment, copper oxide, copper(I) species, overpotential, operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, renewable fuels

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review