Published in ACS Energy Lett., our recent study on Cu-catalyzed bicarbonate electrolysis found that the Faradaic efficiency toward multicarbon products is determined by the electrolyte buffering capacity, bicarbonate availability, and carbonate mass transport. By controlling the electrolyte concentration, catalyst layer thickness and porosity, we report an optimized Faradaic efficiency of ~48% at 60 mA cm-2. It was achieved using 0.1 M KHCO3 and a Cu2O/10 wt% carbon precatalyst.
