Core/shell-vacancy engineering (CSVE) of catalysts for electrochemical CO

1. A catalyst system for electrocatalyzing conversion of CO 2 into multi-carbon hydrocarbons and/or alcohols, characterised in that the catalyst system comprises a core-shell structure comprising a core that is composed of a metal sulphide and a shell having a lower sulphur content than the core and that is composed of a metal with vacancies; in that the metal of the core and the metal of the shell are the same metal; and in that the shell has a thickness that is ranging between 1 nm to 3 nm as determined by EDS line scan measurement, wherein EDS line scan is carried out using a JEM-ARM 200F Atomic Resolution Analytical Microscope operating at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV.

2. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the metal of the core and the metal of the shell are copper.

3. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the core-shell structure is core-shell particles.

4. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the catalyst system comprises copper and sulphur, and in that copper and sulphur are distributed evenly throughout the core and/or copper and sulphur are present in a non-stoichiometric ratio.

5. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the core of the core-shell particles comprises or consists of a djurleite phase; and/or the core of the core-shell particles has a covellite structure.

6. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the core and shell have an overall Cu/S molar ratio ranging between 3 and 7 as determined by XRF-1800 quantitative analysis with a 4 kW Thin-window X-ray Tube.

7. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the shell has a thickness that is ranging between 1.5 nm to 2.5 nm as determined by EDS line scan measurement, wherein EDS line scan is carried out using a JEM-ARM 200F Atomic Resolution Analytical Microscope operating at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV.

8. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the shell has a thickness that is smaller than a diameter of the core.

9. The catalyst system of claim 1 , characterised in that the core-shell structure is core-shell layered material comprising an inner layer forming a core and an outer layer forming a shell.

10. A method for electrochemical production of a multi-carbon alcohol, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:

contacting CO 2 gas and an electrolyte with an electrode comprising the catalyst system as defined in claim 1 , such that the CO 2 contacts a catalyst layer comprising the catalyst system;

applying a voltage to provide a current density to cause the CO 2 gas contacting the catalyst layer to be electrochemically converted into the multi-carbon alcohol; and

recovering the multi-carbon alcohol.

11. The method of claim 10 , characterised in that the recovered multi-carbon alcohol comprises ethanol and/or propanol and/or in that the electrolyte comprises an alkaline potassium compound.

12. The method of claim 10 , characterised in that the method further comprises a step of deploying a catalyst system precursor comprising copper sulphide particles in the electrolyte and applying the voltage to:

initiate the electrochemical production of the multi-carbon alcohol; and

subject an external layer of the copper sulphide particles to reduction to remove sulphur therefrom and thereby form the shell of the catalyst system.

13. The method of claim 10 , characterised in that the voltage applied is ranging from 300 to 700 mV at potentials of −0.95 V vs RHE.

14. A method of manufacturing a catalyst system comprising core-shell particles for electrocatalyzing conversion of CO 2 into multi-carbon hydrocarbons and/or alcohols, characterised in that the method comprises the following steps:

preparing particles that comprise vacancy enriched metal sulphide;

subjecting the particles to reduction to produce a reduced metallic shell with enriched vacancies surrounding a metal sulphide core, thereby forming the core-shell particle; and in that the catalyst system is according to claim 1 .

15. The method of claim 14 , characterised in that the particles that are prepared are nanoparticles.

16. The method of claim 14 characterised in that the particles are prepared using a solvothermal method.

17. The method of claim 14 , characterised in that the reduction of the particles comprises electroreduction by contacting the particles with CO 2 saturated electrolyte and applying a voltage to provide a current density to cause CO 2 gas contacting the particles to be electrochemically converted into the multi-carbon hydrocarbon.

18. The method of claim 17 , characterised in that the electroreduction is performed in a two-compartment electrochemical H-cell with a proton exchange membrane as a separator and a flow-cell configuration comprising a gas-diffusion layer with an anion exchange membrane.

19. The method of claim 17 , characterised in that the electroreduction is performed in an electroreduction unit that is subsequently used to produce the multi-carbon hydrocarbons such that the core-shell particles are formed in situ.

20. The method of claim 14 , characterised in that the step of preparing of the particles comprises the following sub-steps:

dissolving Cu (acac)2 in a solvent to form a reaction mixture;

heating the reaction mixture to form the particles; and

collecting the particles from the reaction mixture.