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Creators/Authors contains: "Urban, Jeffrey_J"

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  1. To address a long‐existing debate on what copper species are responsible for efficient CC coupling, especially ethanol formation, in electrochemical CO2reduction reaction, herein, a comprehensive study using Cu3N nanocubes with a uniform size and shape, alongside a single crystalline phase is reported. The Cu3N nanoensemble electrode has a remarkable Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 64% for ethanol production at a relatively low potential of −0.6 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode. Throughin‐operandoX‐ray absorption spectroscopy study, a dynamic phase evolution that directly correlates with changes in FE across varying applied potentials is observed. Notably, the nanoensemble with a composition of ≈71% Cu+and 29% Cu0is identified as being selective for ethanol formation at the low overpotential. Conversely, a predominantly metallic Cu phase formed at potentials more negative than −0.6 V favors the hydrogen evolution reaction. Density functional theory calculations at the Cu3N–Cu interface substantiate that the coexistence of Cu0–Cu+not only energetically favors the ethanol reaction pathway but also destabilizes the intermediates for ethylene pathway. 
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