A typical
CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR)
electrolyzer is often carried out with sluggish kinetics of the oxygen
evolution reaction (OER) as the accompanying anodic reaction, leading
to a low value product in the anode and an undesired operation cost.
To optimize the economic viability of the electrolyzer, it is important
that both electrochemical half reactions produce value-added chemicals.
However, the achievement of high efficiency at both half-cells simultaneously
is very difficult, because in addition to the design of suitable catalyst
and electrolyte, the potentials at each electrode should meet the
optimized condition. Herein, for the first time, we report a cathodic
CO2RR integrated with an anodic 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
(HMF) oxidation reaction (HMFOR) to form a brand-new paired electrolysis
system. Using PdO
x
/ZIF-8 (a Zn-based metal
organic framework) as cathode and PdO as anode, the established electrolyzer
only required a 1.06 V onset cell voltage for the efficient conversion
of both CO2 and HMF, in contrast to the 1.77 V for a conventional
CO2RR–OER system. The CO Faradaic efficiency (FE)
achieved 97.0% with a high current density of 103.5 mA·cm–2 for CO2RR, and the organic acid yield
reached 84.3% for HMFOR including 20.0% of maleic acid (MA) and 64.3%
of formic acid (FA). This paired electrolysis system was outstanding
in terms of FE and current density. This work opens new avenues for
the efficient conversion of CO2 and biomass simultaneously.
The design of catalysts with high activity, selectivity, and stability is key to the electroreduction of CO2. Herein, we report the synthesis of 3D hierarchical metal/polymer–carbon paper (M/polymer‐CP) electrodes by in situ electrosynthesis. The 3D polymer layer on CP (polymer‐CP) was first prepared by in situ electropolymerization, then a 3D metal layer was decorated on the polymer‐CP to produce the M/polymer‐CP electrode. Electrodes with different metals (e.g. Cu, Pd, Zn, Sn) and various polymers could be prepared by this method. The electrodes could efficiently reduce CO2 to desired products, such as C2H4, CO, and HCOOH, depending on the metal used. For example, C2H4 could be formed with a Faradaic efficiency of 59.4 % and a current density of 30.2 mA cm−2 by using a very stable Cu/PANI‐CP electrode in an H‐type cell. Control experiments and theoretical calculations showed that the 3D hierarchical structure of the metals and in situ formation of the electrodes are critical for the excellent performance.
We have synthesized NbOx with oxygen vacancies (OVs) and conducted the first work for nitrate electroreduction to NH3 over Nb oxides. It was a robust non-precious metal catalyst for NH3...
Cu-Pd bimetallic catalysts was fabricated on carbon paper (CP) by electrodeposition method via a dynamic hydrogen bubble template approach. At a potential of -1.2 V vs RHE, the Faradaic efficiency...
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