A novel spherical-ordered macroporous CuO nanocatalyst for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 is a promising research direction in resource utilization and sustainable energy development. However, there is still a lack of research on efficient selective catalysts. A spherical-ordered macroporous CuO (SOMa-CuO) nanocatalyst was developed in this work. SBA-15 with a mesoporous structure was prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis and loaded with Cu(NO3)2. After the Cu(NO3)2 was decomposed at a high temperature and the SBA-15 template was removed, a SOMa-CuO nanocatalyst was obtained and loaded on a copper foam electrode. The SOMa-CuO nanocatalyst has a large roughness coefficient, large pore size, large electrochemical specific surface area and excellent electrical conductivity; thus, it demonstrates excellent electrochemical performance. The SOMa-CuO nanocatalyst has a high current density of 52 mA·cm−2 at 0.9 V, a high roughness coefficient of 13.06 mF and a long-term stability in 0.1 mol/L KHCO3. Therefore, the excellent properties of the SOMa-CuO nanocatalyst contribute to the further development of efficient electrocatalytic reduction materials.