Exploring the impact of attentional uniqueness and attentional allocation on firm growth

Researchers posit that a balance between attentional uniqueness and allocation can positively impact a firm’s growth

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Waseda University

 

image: 

Researchers suggest that a balance between attentional uniqueness and allocation can positively impact a firm’s growth.

view more 

Credit: Junichi Yamanoi from Waseda University

According to the attention-based view, a firm’s actions and growth performance are directly influenced by its attentional allocation to specific issues. The consequences of organizational attention are reflected in the firm’s strategic decision-making and adaptability. However, existing literature is limited in its exploration of how a firm’s attentional uniqueness impacts its behavior and performance. Notably, attentional uniqueness refers to how the firm’s attentional allocation diverges from competitors in the same industry.

To address the above-mentioned knowledge gap, Associate Professor Takumi Shimizu of Keio University led a study that examined the relationship between attentional uniqueness and firm performance, mediated by the frequency of growth actions. It was co-authored by Associate Professor Junichi Yamanoi and Associate Professor Susumu Nagayama from Waseda University and Hitotsubashi University, respectively, and published in the Journal of Management Studies on 23 June 2024.

Yamanoi remarks, “We observed variations in the issues that different firms focus on and were interested in exploring the behavioral and performance consequences of these differences.”

Using the structural topic model, an unsupervised machine learning technique in natural language processing, the researchers examined publicly listed companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from 2004 to 2016 as their sample. A total of 9,366 observations were finalized from 986 firms. The data collection process involved extracting raw text and focusing on strategic agendas and managerial issues outlined in the reports.

After thorough analysis, the researchers discovered an inverted U-shaped relationship between attentional uniqueness and firm performance, indicating that firms achieve optimal performance with a balanced level of attentional uniqueness. Both too much and too little divergence in focus can be detrimental to performance. Additionally, the frequency of growth actions, which are initiatives aimed at capitalizing on opportunities, plays a mediating role in this relationship. This inverted U-shaped relationship is further pronounced in environments with scarce opportunities, demonstrating that a moderately unique attentional focus is required in the absence of market opportunities.

The researchers illustrate how organizational attention can drive growth actions with the example of Toyota’s development of the Prius. In 1993, Eiji Toyoda, then-chairman of Toyota, questioned the sustainability of current trends and emerging challenges in the automobile industry, leading to the formation of a project committee. This committee identified ‘resources’ and ‘environment’ as crucial issues for future vehicles. By 1997, Toyota introduced the Prius, a gasoline-electric hybrid designed to address these environmental challenges, significantly improving fuel efficiency and reducing air pollution. While Toyota focused on these forward-looking issues, competitors like General Motors remained fixated on traditional concerns such as model variety, design, and conventional engine performance. Consequently, they were slow to respond to the innovative launch of the Prius.

Yamanoi emphasizes, “We propose practical implications for managers aiming to pursue firm growth through proactive actions. Managers are encouraged to direct their focus towards issues that are relatively distinct from those of their competitors.”

The findings of the present study indicate that, while monitoring competitors often focus on tangible aspects, such as market positioning or strategic initiatives, it is crucial to also pay attention to how competitors allocate their attention and the underlying assumptions they make about managerial issues. This approach is particularly pertinent for managers operating in mature industries, where growth opportunities are scarce. Recognizing the importance of attentional uniqueness can empower a firm to identify and seize growth opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. By understanding and acting upon unique insights, firms can initiate growth actions that capitalize on these opportunities.

Overall, this study marks a notable advancement in our understanding of the strategic importance of attentional uniqueness. It highlights the nuanced ways in which firms can harness their unique perspectives to drive performance and achieve lasting success.

 

***

 

Reference

DOI: 10.1111/joms.13122

 

Authors: Takumi Shimizua, Susumu Nagayamab, and Junichi Yamanoic

 

Affiliations         

aKeio University

bHitotsubashi University

cWaseda University

 

About Waseda University
Located in the heart of Tokyo, Waseda University is a leading private research university that has long been dedicated to academic excellence, innovative research, and civic engagement at both the local and global levels since 1882. The University has produced many changemakers in its history, including nine prime ministers and many leaders in business, science and technology, literature, sports, and film. Waseda has strong collaborations with overseas research institutions and is committed to advancing cutting-edge research and developing leaders who can contribute to the resolution of complex, global social issues. The University has set a target of achieving a zero-carbon campus by 2032, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

To learn more about Waseda University, visit https://www.waseda.jp/top/en

 

About Associate Professor Junichi Yamanoi
Junichi Yamanoi is an Associate Professor at the School of Commerce, Waseda University, Japan. He received a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut, USA. His research focuses on strategic management, including diverse topics such as managerial psychological characteristics, the interplay of competition and cooperation, mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, and family firms.

---

Journal

Journal of Management Studies

DOI

10.1111/joms.13122 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Attentional Uniqueness and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Growth Actions

 

Pusan National University researchers use artificial intelligence to create powerful sound-dampening materials

The new deep learning-based inverse design method allows the optimization of complex acoustic metamaterials as well as complex mechanical structures

Pusan National University

 

image: 

The proposed inverse-design strategy allows optimization of complex geometries for the ventilated acoustic resonator and other mechanical structures. This novel design strategy can lead to quieter cities as well as more sustainable mechanical designs.

view more 

Credit: Sang Min Park from Pusan National University

Noise pollution has become increasingly common in urban areas, stemming from traffic, construction activities, and factories, which can seriously impact health, causing stress, sleep disturbances, and cardiovascular issues. Consequently, various methods for noise reduction have been proposed, such as physically blocking the path of sound and active noise control. However, since sound travels through air, physically blocking sound can also lead to poor ventilation, highlighting the need for research into simultaneous sound attenuation and ventilation.

Acoustic metamaterials (AMs) have been extensively studied as a promising solution for this purpose owing to their unique acoustic properties. Recently a new type of AM, called a ventilated acoustic resonator (VAR), has been proposed that can manipulate both sound waves and airflow using only geometric shapes. It can block even low-frequency noise with a compact structure while maintaining ventilation. A VAR consists of a waveguide that guides sound waves to a resonant cavity that traps them. For appropriate performance, a VAR requires a functional shape optimized for broadband sound attenuation across a target peak frequency. However, conventional analytical design methods only allow relatively simple parametric designs and cannot be used for achieving VARs with complex geometries.

To address this limitation, a team of researchers from Korea, led by Associate Professor Sang Min Park from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Pusan National University developed an innovative deep-learning-based inverse design method. “We proposed a latent-space exploration strategy that searches for broadband VAR with the target frequency through genetic algorithm-based optimization. Compared to conventional methods, our approach allows for high design flexibility while reducing computational costs,” explains Dr. Park. Their study was made available online on May 15, 2024, and published in Volume 133, Part F of the journal Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence in July 2024.

In the proposed inverse design method, a conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE), a deep-learning generative model, encodes the geometric features of the VAR in the latent space. The latent space is a lower-dimensional space that contains the essential information of a higher-dimensional input, in this case, the VAR. To generate this space, the CVAE is trained with cross-section images of the resonant cavity of VAR and peak frequency information. The generated latent space is then used for genetic algorithm (GA) optimization, aimed at searching for a VAR with broadband sound attenuation performance for various peak target frequencies. GA applies a natural-selection-based approach to search for optimized VAR over multiple successive generations, much like the selection of favorable genes in biological evolution.

The researchers trained the CVAE with cross-section images of VAR with a T-shaped resonant cavity with varying values for its design parameters. Using this data, their optimization strategy produced a non-parametric VAR with an atypical but functional structure. The researchers compared the optimization results with the VAR having the widest bandwidth in the training data for each target frequency and found that the optimized designs exhibited broader bandwidths in all cases. Furthermore, they compared the performance of the non-parametric VAR to that designed using a parameter-based inverse design method and found that the former had considerably larger bandwidths.

Highlighting the significance of these results, Dr. Park says, “Our ultra-broadband VARs can be deployed in urban environments to effectively reduce noise pollution without compromising ventilation, thereby improving quality of life by creating quieter, more comfortable living and working spaces. Additionally, our strategy opens new horizons for artificial-intelligence-based design of complex mechanical structures, potentially revolutionizing fields like automotive and aerospace engineering.”

This pioneering design method represents a significant step towards the AI-driven design of AMs and other complex mechanical structures.

***

Reference

Title of original paper: Beyond the limits of parametric design: Latent space exploration strategy enabling ultra-broadband acoustic metamaterials

Journal: Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2024.108595

 

About the institute

Pusan National University, located in Busan, South Korea, was founded in 1946 and is now the No. 1 national university of South Korea in research and educational competency. The multi-campus university also has other smaller campuses in Yangsan, Miryang, and Ami. The university prides itself on the principles of truth, freedom, and service, and has approximately 30,000 students, 1200 professors, and 750 faculty members. The university is composed of 14 colleges (schools) and one independent division, with 103 departments in all.

Website: https://www.pusan.ac.kr/eng/Main.do

 

About the author

Sang Min Park is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, South Korea. His group is focusing on developing an AI-driven structure inverse design and optimization framework and its application for enhancing the performance of nano-micro sensors, soft robotics, energy harvesting devices, and complex mechanical structures.

Lab Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ipmslab/

ORCID id: 0000-0002-2496-4141

---

Journal

Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence

DOI

10.1016/j.engappai.2024.108595 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Beyond the limits of parametric design: Latent space exploration strategy enabling ultra-broadband acoustic metamaterials

 

Continuing climate warming trend and pronounced interannual variability in precipitation in the Three Gorges Region in 2022–2023

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

 

image: 

 In August 2022, part of the river bank at the Three Gorges Reservoir was exposed as the water level dropped due to insufficient rainfall.

view more 

Credit: Liang Chen

The Three Gorges Region of the Yangtze River (TGR) in China has a unique geographical location, complex geomorphological features, and a fragile and sensitive climate. The Three Gorges Project, as a large-scale comprehensive water conservancy hub project in the region, has not only greatly changed the nature, society and economy of the area, but also brought great benefits and created problems, such as environmental and climatic impacts. Therefore, it is of great importance to conduct climate and environmental monitoring in the region.

Recently, a team led by Chen Xianyan, a Professor at the National Climate Centre, published a report entitled "Climate state of the Three Gorges Region in the Yangtze River basin in 2022–2023" in the journal Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Letters (AOSL). The report, which is the fifth in the series published in AOSL, describes the characteristics of climate anomalies and acid rain in the TGR in the past two years.

Professor Chen, corresponding author of the paper, explains that to meet the needs of the construction and safe operation of the Three Gorges Project, she and her colleagues have been carrying out local climate monitoring and assessment for many years, and have been releasing the annual climate report on the TGR to the public for six years.

"The work involving the collection of climate data, monitoring of extreme weather events, and assessment of the impact of climate change over the TGR plays a crucial role in supporting the construction of an ecological civilization in the region and promoting regional development," Professor Chen adds.

The report points out that the average temperature in the TGR in 2022 and 2023 was 0.8℃ and 0.4℃ higher than normal, respectively, making them the two warmest years in the last decade, particularly in the summer of 2022, which was the hottest on record. Precipitation was very different between the two years, with rainfall in 2022 almost 20% below normal, and the high temperatures and low rainfall led to a severe drought in the area that lasted from summer to winter (see image, below), while rainfall in 2023 was 15% higher. During these two years, the region experienced extreme heatwaves, regional heavy rainfall and flooding, overcast rain, and cold spells. The report also discusses the important factors contributing to the occurrence of the extreme heatwave in the summer of 2022.

---

Journal

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2024.100540 

Upcycling spent coffee grounds by isolating Mannan-rich Holocellulose nanofibers

Yokohama National University

 

image: 

Spent coffee grounds are purified to yield holocellulose, which is then reduced to HCNFs using mechanical nanofibrillation. The HCNFs are 2-3 nm and 0.7-1 mm in length. An AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) image of the HCNF shows recrystallization of mannan.

view more 

Credit: Noriko Kanai, Graduate School of Information Sciences, Yokohama National University.

Along with all the coffee we drink every day, over 6 million tons of spent coffee grounds are produced annually worldwide. Some of these grounds are reused as biofuel but the rest are disposed of in landfills. Over the last decade, research has focused on how to reuse these grounds. The primary focus has been on the polysaccharides from the cellulose and hemicellulose in the ground up coffee bean’s cell walls. Polysaccharides are used in composites, biopolymers, food packaging, construction materials and cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). CNFs specifically, which are cellulose reduced to nanoparticle size, 3 to 5 nm, have many uses in the food, cosmetic, and coating industries.

Japanese researchers from Yokohama National University pioneered a method that used spent coffee grounds as a new waste material to isolate CNFs using TEMPO-mediated oxidation in 2020. However, that left up to ~40% of the coffee grounds’ hemicellulose unused. So, they turned their attention to holocellulose, the combination of hemicellulose and cellulose, to extract holocellulose nanofibers (HCNFs).

“Chemically unmodified and uniform quality HCNFs from agricultural/food waste are highly desirable for food additives such as emulsifiers. We hypothesized that the high hemicellulose contents in the holocellulose from spent coffee grounds and their unique structure could achieve completed nanofibrillation down to 3–5 nm wide and 1–3 μm long by mechanical disintegration,” said Izuru Kawamura, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Yokohama National University. In fact, they not only formed HCNF, but they also discovered a method of preservative-free long-term storage of the HCNF with added benefits for transport and handling, thereby significantly increasing its utility for the food and cosmetic industries.

Their research was published in Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications on June 25.

To form HCNF out of the spent coffee grounds, the researchers removed lignin and lipids and then reduced the rest of the holocellulose fibrils to the nanoscale via nanofibrillation, the process of disintegrating fibril bundles into nanofibrils. The researchers used a jet mill with ultrahigh water pressure to mechanically nanofibrillate the holocellulose to form the HCNF.

The least degraded hemicellulose left in the spent coffee grounds after roasting is mannan. In the grounds, mannan has been shown to form a network between cellulose fibrils. This association is strong enough that even undergoing chemical treatments may not break it and, in some circumstances, mannan may recrystallize. The presence of mannan was essential in the ease of reconstituting the HCNFs after they had been freeze-dried. Generally during dehydration, the physical properties of nanocellulose change and they lose the ability to redisperse in water. However, when freeze-dried HCNFs were placed in room temperature water, a simple shake caused them to redisperse back into the nanoscale.

“The spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs were completely nanofibrillated to 2–3 nm wide and 0.7–1 μm long, which was finer in width and shorter in length than general CNFs or HCNFs obtained by mechanical nanofibrillation, and desirable morphologies for food additives,” said Noriko Kanai, assistant professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University. Not only did they form finer and shorter HCNFs, but the discovery of the distinctive behavior of the HCNF in its freeze-dried state has many benefits. “The advantages of the once-freeze-dried HCNFs from spent coffee grounds are 1) preservative-free for long-term storage, 2) volume reduction during transportation, and 3) easy handling with only handshaking without solvent change or additional refinement process,” said Kanai.

The research teams next project will move forward with the work they have done with HCNFs. “Dried HCNFs have some advantages for commercial use, such as long-term storage without preservatives and volume reduction for transportation. As a next step, we are exploring the possibility of upcycling spent coffee grounds-derived HCNFs as cosmetic and food additives,” Kawamura said.

Other contributors include Kohei Yamada, Chika Sumida, Miyu Tanzawa, Yuto Ito, Toshiki Saito, Risa Kimura, and Toshiyuki Oyama from the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Yokohama National University; Miwako Saito-Yamazaki from GRACE Co., Ltd, Yokohama; Akira Isogai from the Department of Biomaterial Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo.

This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI and JST COI-NEXT program.

##

Yokohama National University (YNU or Yokokoku) is a Japanese national university founded in 1949. YNU provides students with a practical education utilizing the wide expertise of its faculty and facilitates engagement with the global community. YNU’s strength in the academic research of practical application sciences leads to high-impact publications and contributes to international scientific research and the global society. For more information, please see: https://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/

---

Journal

Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications

DOI

10.1016/j.carpta.2024.100539 

Article Title

Mannan-rich Holocellulose nanofibers mechanically isolated from spent coffee grounds: Structure and properties

 CHINESE SOLAR HEGEMONY

HKUST engineering researchers enhance perovskite solar cells durability with first-of-its-kind chiral-structured “springy” interface

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

 

image: 

Prof. ZHOU Yuanyuan (right) and Dr. DUAN Tianwei (left) holding their newly developed perovskite solar cell.

view more 

Credit: HKUST

A research team led by the School of Engineering of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has constructed an unprecedented chiral-structured interface in perovskite solar cells, which enhances the reliability and power conversion efficiency of this fast-advancing solar technology and accelerates its commercialization.

A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes perovskite-structured compound materials, which are inexpensive to produce and simple to manufacture. Unlike conventional silicon solar cells that require expensive high-temperature, high-vacuum fabrication processes, perovskites can be easily made into thin films using various printing techniques at low cost. The performance of PSCs has climbed very rapidly in recent years, but there are still significant barriers to commercialization, particularly concerning their various stability aspects under real-world conditions. An outstanding challenge was the insufficient adhesion between the different layers of the cells, resulting in limited interfacial reliability.

To address this issue, Prof. ZHOU Yuanyuan, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) at HKUST, and his research team got inspiration from the mechanical strength of natural chiral materials and constructed an unprecedented chiral-structured interface in PSCs, unlocking very high reliability.

The team inserted chiral-structured interlayers based on R-/S-methylbenzyl-ammonium between the perovskite absorber and electron transport layer to create a strong, elastic heterointerface. The encapsulated solar cells retained 92% of their initial power conversion efficiencies after 200 cycles between −40°C and 85°C for 1,200 hours, tested under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61215 solar cell standards.

“The intriguing mechanical properties of chiral materials are associated with the helical packing of their subunits, which resembles a mechanical spring,” said the first author of this work, Dr. DUAN Tianwei, currently a Research Assistant Professor in the CBE Department at HKUST and a previous Research Grants Council postdoctoral fellow. “Incorporating a chiral-structured interlayer at the crucial device interface makes the perovskite solar cell more mechanically durable and adaptable under various operational states,” she added.

“It is really the dawn for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Given the high efficiencies of these cells, if we could ultimately overcome the reliability issue, billions of energy markets will be seen,” said Prof. Zhou.

This breakthrough holds great promise for the future of solar energy. With the potential for enhanced reliability and power conversion efficiency, future perovskite solar panels could become even more dependable in various weather conditions, ensuring continuous electricity generation over extended periods.

The team’s research work, titled “Chiral-Structured Heterointerfaces Enable Durable Perovskite Solar Cells”, was recently published in prestigious journal Science. The paper was co-written by Dr. Duan (the lead first author) and Prof. Zhou (the lead corresponding author), as well as collaborators from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Hong Kong Baptist University, and Yale University.

Schematics illustration of the homochiral and heterochiral interface modification concepts invented by Prof. Zhou’s research team.

A demonstration of using the perovskite solar cell developed by Prof. ZHOU Yuanyuan’s research team to charge a mobile phone.

Credit

HKUST

---

Journal

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.ado5172 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Chiral-structured heterointerfaces enable durable perovskite solar cells

 SPACE

Discovery of the highest-energy gamma-ray line in the universe

Science China Press

 

image: 

Joint analysis of the GECAM-C and Fermi/GBM observation data on the brightest ever gamma-ray burst (GRB 221009A) reveals the discovery of gamma-ray line up to 37 MeV, the highest-energy gamma-ray line seen from any celestial object in the universe. Art by Jingchuan Yu.

view more 

Credit: Art by Jingchuan Yu.

This study is led by Prof. Shaolin Xiong (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Jirong Mao (Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Shuang-Nan Zhang (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences). Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosion phenomena and have important clues about the stars, the galaxies, and the universe. Since the discovery of GRB in the 1960s, the brightest ever GRB (named GRB 221009A) swept the Earth on October 9th, 2022, and its overwhelming brightness even caused troubles for many gamma-ray telescopes to observe normally. Fortunately, GECAM-C, the third instrument of the GECAM series that Shaolin Xiong proposed, provided an accurate and high-resolution measurement of the burst, thanks to its dedicated design for bright events. Considering the record-breaking brightness and rich observation data sets, the research team quickly realized that this GRB provides a precious opportunity to search for gamma-ray lines in the spectrum, which are critically important but never detected in GRB before.

For this goal, the research team executed a comprehensive spectral analysis of the joint observation data from two space gamma-ray monitors. “GECAM-C provided an accurate spectral measurement for the full course of this burst, while Fermi/GBM could extend the spectrum to a higher energy band. They together can give a very wide range of spectrum measurement and line search,” Shaolin Xiong says.

“Soon after we started this analysis, we noticed that, above the continuum spectrum that is usually seen in GRBs, there are some interesting excess features in some time intervals of this burst. We thought they might be the grail we’ve been looking for,” said the first author of this paper, Yanqiu Zhang, a PhD student at the Institute of High Energy Physics.

“But we knew there are so many things to check out before we claim it, because many elusive factors, such as background subtraction, instrumental effects, and systematic errors in detector response, can lead to fake features in the spectrum for bright bursts; thus, we have to investigate all these issues as much as possible. Having two telescopes to cross-check each other helped a lot in this study,” Shaolin Xiong says.

After the very challenging analyses of these issues in many months, the research group managed to derive the reliable spectra of this GRB and find a series of emission lines over the typical GRB spectra. Remarkably, they further found that both the line energy and flux evolve as a power law function of time. “Such a physical evolution cannot be produced by any factors we can think of and thus provides a solid proof of the reality and the GRB origin of these gamma-ray lines,” Shaolin Xiong says.

Interestingly, the team noticed that the line energy is up to 37 million electron volts during the bright part of the burst. “To our knowledge, a significant gamma-ray line with such high energy is never seen before; thus, we believe it is the highest-energy spectral line observed in the universe so far,” Shuang-Nan Zhang says.

In this work, the team also discussed some possible scenarios to explain the observed gamma-ray line features, including the power-law evolution of the line energy and flux and the nearly constant ratio of the line width to line energy. “These discoveries shed new and unique light on the physics of GRB and its relativistic jet. More theoretical studies are required to fully understand the observed gamma-ray line,” Jirong Mao says.

---

Journal

Science China Physics Mechanics and Astronomy

DOI

10.1007/s11433-023-2381-0 

 

Efficient CO2 conversion to fuels and chemicals using polymer-modified Cu electrodes

Science China Press

 

image: 

Polyacrylate featured with electron-accepting groups decorated onto the Cu electrode could stabilize the *CO intermediates, given the redistributed interfacial electron density and the raised energy level of d-band center of Cu active sites, thus facilitating the C-C coupling and then the C2+ selective production.

view more 

Credit: ©Science China Press

This study is led by Prof. Shaohua Shen (International Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University). Both experiments including catalyst preparation, structural characterizations and catalytic performance evaluation and DFT calculations were performed.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (eCO2RR) that produces valuable fuel or chemical provides a sustainable and carbon-neutrality approach to address the critical issues of global warming and renewable electricity storage. However, achieving high selectivity in eCO2RR towards economically desirable multicarbon (C2+) products (e.g., C2H4, C2H5OH, n-C3H7OH, etc.) remains challenging. Among the developed metallic catalysts that enable eCO2RR to generate C2+ products, metallic copper (Cu) is the most promising, and yet the polycrystalline Cu electrode suffers from the poor selectivity, due to the various reaction intermediates and the versatile reaction pathways. Currently, designing a facile and low-cost Cu catalyst with high selectivity for CO2RR is still challenging.

To address these challenges, the research team led by Prof. Shaohua Shen from Xi'an Jiaotong University has proposed a facile surface modification to the Cu electrode with poly (α-ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PECA) featured with electron-accepting cyano (-C≡N) and ester (-COOR) groups, derived by the anionic polymerization of surface adhered ECA, to stabilize the key intermediates for high selective C2+ production during eCO2RR. In comparison to the Cu electrode, the obtained PECA decorated Cu (Cu-PECA) electrode exhibits a superior selectivity toward C2+ products, with FE reaching 72.6% as high at −1.1 V vs. RHE. In a flow cell, stable C2+ production with a high FE of 76.3% and a high current density of −145.4 mA cm−2 could be achieved at −0.9 V vs. RHE over the Cu-PECA electrode. As revealed by electrochemical and in-situ spectral investigations as well as theoretical calculations, PECA featured with -C≡N and -COOR groups, decorated on the Cu electrode, is believed to distribute the interfacial electron density and raise the central energy level of the d-band (Ed) of Cu active sites, which inhibits the *H adsorption and stabilizes the *CO adsorption, facilitating the subsequent C-C coupling and ultimately leading to the selective generation of C2+ products. This work should be guidable to the design of surface decorated electrocatalysts or electrodes to steer the surface adsorption behaviors of reaction intermediates for eCO2RR towards C2+ production with high activity and selectivity.

See the article:

Polyacrylate modified Cu electrode for selective electrochemical CO2 reduction towards multicarbon products

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2024.06.014

---

Journal

Science Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.scib.2024.06.014