Fig. 3: Effect of ligand modification on the behavior of interfacial H2O via controllable wettability.
From: Selective electrosynthesis of 1,3-butadiene by tailoring the coverage of acetylene and water
a The average electrolyte (1 M KOH) droplet contact angle of the ligand-modified Cu NAs. The insets show photographs of the water droplets. b 3D reconstructed microstructure derived from fluorescence spectroscopy of Cu-based catalysts with different modified ligands. The fluorescence intensity represents the height of the penetrated electrolytes. Scale bars, 100 μm. c Corresponding z-axis fluorescence intensity line scans of labeled regions. All “a.u.” represents arbitrary units. d Percentages of different types of interfacial water structures over different catalysts determined from the MD models. e–g Schematic of the interfacial model of the Cu-xSH-NA (x = 2, 6, 12) surface and the corresponding O and H densities along the z-axis direction. Green: Cu, red: C, blue: H, yellow: S, light orange: O. Visuals were produced with VESTA44, blender, and origin. h Contour plots of C4H6 FE over a Cu-based catalyst with different modified ligands. Partial current density (i) and Tafel analysis (j) for C2H4 and C4H6 production over Cu-based catalysts with different modified ligands. The error bars represent the standard deviation from at least three independent measurements. (R: 1.3 ± 0.3 Ω). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
