Prof. Wenxing Yang’s group in the Center of Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels at Westlake University recently published a research article in Nature Catalysis. The paper is titled “Resolving non-covalent interactions between surface hydroxyl on Cu and interfacial water in alkaline CO electroreduction”.
Utilizing in situ Raman spectroscopy, this study reveals those non-covalent interactions—such as hydrogen bonds and ion–dipole interactions—among surface hydroxyl species (OHad), water molecules, and cations (e.g., K+) dynamically form complexes, represented as OHad…M⁺(H₂O)ₙ. Under reaction conditions, these complexes transform into OH⁻…M⁺(H₂O)ₙ structures within the electrical double layer, which selectively favor acetate formation over other C2 products like ethylene or ethanol for alkaline CORR.
Ph.D. student Qiliang Liu is the first author. Prof. Wenxing Yang from Center of Artificial Photosynthesis for Solar Fuels at Westlake University is the corresponding author. This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China.