Evaluating the efficacy of nanosized CuZnAl and CuZnZr mixed oxides for electrocatalytic CO reduction.

The increased awareness of carbon management has prompted the scientific community towards delivering sustainable catalytic technologies, preferably from CO. Copper-based multifunctional catalysts are the most frequently used for thermal hydrogenation and electrocatalytic reduction of CO (COR) processes. To improve the understanding and efficacy of these materials for the COR reaction, Cu-Zn oxides combined with AlO and ZrO were synthesized by the coprecipitation method and annealed at 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C (, Cu/ZnO/AlO- and Cu/ZnO/ZrO systems-, where is the annealing temperature) to tune their multi-functionality. We demonstrate that the composition of Cu-Zn oxides and pretreatment temperature impact the electrocatalytic COR performance, where CuZnZr-600 and CuZnAl-700 materials are superior. Different characterization tools were employed to rationalize the results described in this work, which could provide a way to design an efficient catalytic system for the COR process.