Photothermally Driven Efficient CO2 Electroreduction Based on a Superhydrophobic Electrode
Mengli Zeng1, Siyu Zou2, Lihui Huang1, Jun Zhang1*, Jiong Wang(王炯)3*, Xinjian Feng(封心建)1,4*
1State Key Laboratory of Bioinspired Interfacial Materials Science, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
2College of Chemical Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
3Innovation Center for Chemical Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
4Suzhou Institute for Advanced Research, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China
J. Am. Chem. Soc.2026, 148, 4475–4483
Abstract:Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) offers a promising route to produce value-added chemicals and fuels while mitigating carbon emissions. However, challenges of insufficient mass transfer, competitive hydrogen evolution, and sluggish kinetics persist. Thermal activation can improve kinetics, but conventional heating suffers from energy inefficiency and CO2 solubility degradation. Herein, we report a superhydrophobic triphase photothermal electrode (TPTE) that synergistically integrates localized photothermal heating with interfacial gas transport engineering. This architecture enables precise and energy-efficient heating at the catalyst/electrolyte/gas triphase interface while sustaining high CO2 availability, overcoming a classical issue of trade-off between temperature and gaseous solubility. Integrating a Au nanoparticle electrocatalyst with a photothermal porous superhydrophobic carbon substrate, TPTE achieves a 260% enhancement in CO partial current density under 400 mWcm-2 illumination compared to that under ambient conditions while effectively suppressing hydrogen evolution. Mathematical models verify diffusion rate, and interfacial CO2 concentrations determine eCO2RR performance. Under 400 mWcm-2 illumination, the CO2 supply rate of TPTE is 50 times higher than that of conventional diphase electrodes. Moreover, the triphase system maintains interfacial CO2 concentrations near saturation, far exceeding those of diphase systems. This work establishes a generalized interface design strategy for decoupled thermal and mass transport management, offering novel insights into high-performance eCO2RR.

Article information: //doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c19088