Résumé
Harnessing renewable electricity for CO2 electroreduction is essential for the low-carbon production of chemicals and fuels. Traditional methods combine the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which has high energy consumption and low-value products. Here, we propose using anodic ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) instead of OER, which has a lower oxidation potential and valuable product. Nickel–iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) is identified as an efficient EGOR catalyst. Using systematic electrochemical measurements and both ex situ and operando spectroscopy revealed that NiFe-LDH undergoes distinct structural evolution under EGOR and the OER. We found that metal–oxygen hybridization enhances EGOR selectivity and reduces the OER selectivity. Pairing EGOR with CO2RR allowed achieving a low electrical consumption of 6.2 kWh Nm-3 at 300 mA cm-2 for CO production using Ag as the cathode. This strategy was successfully applied to the conversion of CO2 to multicarbon products, demonstrating a partial current density of 364 mA cm-2 for C2+ production using Cu2O as the cathode.