Micro-Electrode with Fast Mass Transport for Enhancing Selectivity of Carbonaceous Products in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

During electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction on copper electrodes in an aqueous electrolyte, one of the key challenges is the competition between hydrogen evolution and CO2 reduction, especially under large current density. Here, micro-electrodes are designed with a copper wire as the substrate, which shows improved mass transport compared to the planar electrode. The Faradaic efficiency for C2+ products reaches 79% with a partial geometric current density -77.7 mA cm(-2) on Cu2O nanowire/micro-electrode, which is 3.7 times higher than Cu2O nanowire/planar-electrode. The authors also designed CuO and metallic Cu with micro-electrode as substrate and observed enhanced selectivity for carbonaceous products, proving the universality of the concept. The improved activity is attributed to the fast mass transport of CO2 to the catalytic interface and thus the suppression of hydrogen production.

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Mingkui Wang, Jingshan Luo, Dan Ren, Xiaoyu Zhang, Qixing Zhang
2021
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Abstract

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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/287302?ln=en

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Related concepts (7)

Hydrogen production

Hydrogen production is the family of industrial methods for generating hydrogen gas. As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (~95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas and other light hydrocarbons, partial oxidation of heavier hydrocarbons, and coal gasification. Other methods of hydrogen production include biomass gasification, methane pyrolysis, and electrolysis of water. Methane pyrolysis and water electrolysis can use any source of electricity including solar power.

Public transport

Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typically managed on a schedule, operated on established routes, and that charge a posted fee for each trip. There is no rigid definition of which kinds of transport are included, and air travel is often not thought of when discussing public transport—dictionaries use wording like "buses, trains, etc.

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, also known as electrolysis of carbon dioxide, is the conversion of carbon dioxide () to more reduced chemical species using electrical energy. It is one possible step in the broad scheme of carbon capture and utilization, nevertheless it is deemed to be one of the most promising approaches. Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide represents a possible means of producing chemicals or fuels, converting carbon dioxide () to organic feedstocks such as formic acid (HCOOH), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4) and ethanol (C2H5OH).