Omran Moradlou

With a dual role, Au substitution into the Co site (material modification) and uniform Au nanoparticle decoration (bridging components), 0.5% Au:LCO/GO nanocomposite yields a high hydrogen storage capacity of 2230 mAh g ⁻¹ .

A strategy is presented to mitigate copper surface reconstruction during electrochemical CO ₂ reduction reaction (EC‐CO ₂ RR) by conformally coating copper microcubes (CuMCs) with an ultrathin (≈2 nm) polydopamine (PDA) layer. The formation of nanocubes (30–50 nm in size) at the surface of microcubes at the early stages of the EC‐CO ₂ RR contributes to suppressed surface reconstruction and sustained Faradaic efficiency (FE) for C ₂ products. Furthermore, PDA coating effectively stabilizes adsorbed CO _atop and CO _bridge intermediates and promotes CC coupling. As a result, the FE for C ₂ products increases from 52.0 ± 4.0% for unmodified CuMCs to 81.6 ± 2.8% for PDA‐coated CuMCs at −1.18 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (V _RHE ). The PDA coating effectively slows down the surface evolution process of the catalyst during electrolysis. After 18 h of continuous operation at −0.88 V _RHE , the CuMCs retain their original framework owing to a tightly adhered PDA layer that effectively stabilizes the surface and enhances catalyst durability. In situ surface‐enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy confirms the presence of adsorbed CO _atop , CO _bridge , and OCCOH intermediates on PDA/CuMCs surface, which are believed to boost CC coupling. This work highlights the potential of polymer film to stabilize the catalyst surface and steer product distribution in CO ₂ electroreduction.