Recently, the research group led by Prof. DENG Dehui from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) has made a new progress in the direct and selective production of ethylene by electrocatalytic carbon monoxide, providing new ideas for the production of ethylene through carbon monoxide with high selectivity and low energy consumption.

　　On the basis of optimizing the copper-based catalyst, the team increased the diffusion rate of carbon monoxide by adjusting the hydrophobicity of the electrode, effectively promoting the carbon-carbon coupling process of the carbon monoxide molecules on the surface of the copper-based catalyst. By using water as a reducing agent, high-selective electrocatalysis of carbon monoxide to produce ethylene is achieved under mild conditions of normal temperature and pressure. Compared with the traditional method, this process has no carbon dioxide generation at all. Based on the calculation of carbon monoxide conversion, the selectivity to produce ethylene is about 70%.

　　This work was published as a communication in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and was highlighted as the Hot Paper.This work was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the DNL Cooperation Fund and National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials.

(R-11)