Facile synthesis of porous Cu2O hollow nanospheres for accelerating electroreduction of CO2 towards C2 products.

[Display omitted] • The porous Cu 2 O-HNSs were facilely prepared through a one-pot wet-chemical method. • The concentration of NH 2 OH∙HCl and pH value play critical roles in the synthesis. • Compared to Cu powder, Cu 2 O-HNSs showed an enhanced CER performance for C 2 products. • The type of electrode and carbon support can impact the CER performance of Cu 2 O-HNSs. In this paper, porous Cu 2 O hollow nanospheres (Cu 2 O-HNSs) were facilely synthesized through a template-free one-pot wet-chemical method. Systematical investigations found that Cu 2 O-HNSs with many cavities on the shell were formed from porous Cu 2 O nanospheres through Ostwald ripening. The concentration of NH 2 OH∙HCl and pH value play critical roles. Compared to Cu powder, Cu 2 O-HNSs showed enhanced current density and Faraday efficiency of C 2 products in electroreduction of CO 2 (CER). Our work inspires the synthesis of hollow nanostructures to accelerate the formation of C 2 products for CER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]