CuO/ZnO Composite Electrocatalyst: Preparation and Reduction of CO₂ to Syngas

Abstract

The reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to syngas (a mixture of CO and H2) can not only realize the carbon cycle and decrease the greenhouse effect but also alleviate the energy crisis. The design of catalyst is the key to realize CO2 resource utilization. Herein, CuO and CuO/ZnO composite were prepared by metal ion co-precipitation method, and the performance of electrochemical CO2 reduction to syngas under different potentials was investigated by adjusting the catalyst components. The results show that the introduction of zinc (Zn) species can decrease the adsorption intensity of intermediate CO2 •⁻ on the catalyst, which leads to the decrease of Faraday efficiency (FE) of CO and the increase of FE of H2, thus achieving controllable regulation of CO/H2 in the range of 1/1~1/4 under different applied electrochemical potential. In particular, the total FE of syngas CO/H2 is up to 84% when the ratio of Cu to Zn in the precursor solution is 1 : 2.