A Cu–La Dual‐Atomic Catalyst With Dual‐Site Adsorption Enables Synergistic Optimization of Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Electrocatalytic CO ₂ Reduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Single‐atomic catalysts face the following major challenges in the rapidly advancing field of electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction (ECR) to CO: linear scaling relationships between adsorption strengths of intermediates lead to unfavored ECR thermodynamics; low CO 2 /proton/electron concentrations within microenvironments on catalyst surfaces limit ECR kinetics. Consequently, we synthesized a Cu–La dual‐atomic catalyst (DAC) for synergistically optimizing the ECR thermodynamics and kinetics. The Cu and La sites of Cu–La DAC can respectively couple the C and O atoms of *COOH, forming a novel dual‐site *COOH adsorption configuration, which does not undergo a transition to subsequent *CO. Cu–La DAC can effectively break the linear scaling relationship and optimize the ECR thermodynamics. Furthermore, Cu and La, possessing distinct conductivity, hydrophilicity, and CO 2 adsorption capabilities, collectively modulate the microenvironments on the surface of Cu–La DAC. This facilitates the efficient supply of electrons, protons, and CO 2 for ECR, thereby greatly enhancing the kinetics. This work combines Cu and La, which have different macroscopic properties and electronic structures (microscopic), to synergistically optimize thermodynamics and kinetics based on the dual‐site adsorption of DAC, providing new insights for designing high‐performance catalysts and discovering efficient mechanisms.