Achieving strong chemical adsorption ability for efficient carbon dioxide electrolysis

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is a promising technology to efficiently convert carbon dioxide. However, the lack of suitable cathode, with desirable catalytic activity, limits the advancement of SOEC. Herein, we report a novel (La_0.2Sr_0.8)_0.95Ti_0.65-xMn_0.35Cu_xO_3-δ (LSTMC_x, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) as a high-performance cathode, co-doped with hetero-valent Cu and Mn ions at B-site synergistically regulates the surface environment of LST. Cu doping significantly improved the catalytic activity by enhancing the chemisorption of CO₂, and Mn doping increased the concentration of oxygen vacancies, resulting in abundant electrochemically active sites. Moreover, the as-prepared LSTMC render a higher electrocatalysis performance (2.33 A cm⁻² at 1.8 V and 800 °C) than the previously reported perovskite-based cathodes. In addition, the LSTMC-based single cell did not exhibit any significant performance degradation after long-term stability test (100 h) under pure CO₂. Therefore, this newly developed perovskite is considered as a promising cathode for SOEC.