Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of Copper‐Based Electrocatalysts for Converting Carbon Dioxide to Tunable Syngas

Zeng, Juqin; Martino, Gaia Di; Sacco, Adriano; Castellino, Micaela; Fiorentin, Michele Re; Risplendi, Francesca; Farkhondehfal, M. Amin; Hernández, Simelys; Cicero, Giancarlo; Pirri, Candido; Chiodoni, Angelica

doi:10.1002/celc.201901730

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…A similar agglomeration phenomenon was also observed in our previous work on Cu-based materials prepared with a similar route. [3] In the synthesis, EG, used as the bulk solvent, could play the role of a surfactant favoring the oriented packing of small Cu particles, as previously reported in another work. [35] The agglomeration of small particles, especially nanosized ones, could be driven by surface energy reduction [35,36] and the oriented agglomeration could be induced by the EG surfactant.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…[1] Secondly, the products and conversion rates can be tuned by utilizing different catalysts and applying various potentials. [2,3] Finally, the electrolyzer and electrolysis process for CO 2 conversion can be developed based on the already existing technologies such as water electrolyzers, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, and so on. [4,5] However, compared with other electrochemical reduction reactions such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) [6] and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), [7] the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) faces many more complications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupled Copper–Zinc Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

et al. 2020

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A catalyst plays a key role in the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to valuable chemicals and fuels. Hence, the development of efficient and inexpensive catalysts has attracted great interest from both the academic and industrial communities. In this work, low‐cost catalysts coupling Cu and Zn are designed and prepared with a green microwave‐assisted route. The Cu to Zn ratio in the catalysts can be easily tuned by adjusting the precursor solutions. The obtained Cu–Zn catalysts are mainly composed of polycrystalline Cu particles and monocrystalline ZnO nanoparticles. The electrodes with optimized Cu–Zn catalysts show enhanced CO production rates of approximately 200 μmol h−1 cm−2 with respect to those with a monometallic Cu or ZnO catalyst under the same applied potential. At the bimetallic electrodes, ZnO‐derived active sites are selective for CO formation and highly conductive Cu favors electron transport in the catalyst layer as well as charge transfer at the electrode/electrolyte interface.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Copper–Zinc Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

et al. 2020

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“…However, the EG molecules, as capping agents, play a crucial role during growth of Cu 2 O. The binding energies of an EG molecule to the (110), (111) and (200) surfaces are variable, and a highest value is found for the EG to (200) surface from DFT calculations [28], pointing at the higher stability of the {100} surfaces in the presence of EG molecules. Hence, the growth on {100} surfaces is inhibited, while the growth along the [111] and [110] directions is unimpeded until the corresponding facets eventually disappear, explaining the appearance of cubic-shaped Cu 2 O.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to its unique feature and high electric conductivity, Cu became the most studied element and the investigations mainly focus on size and shape effect, copper composites, copper complexes and copper alloys [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Our recent work revealed that the initial oxidation state of Cu on the surface significantly influences the performance of the catalysts in the CO 2 RR [28]. A high content of Cu 2 O on the as-prepared material surface improves the selectivity toward CO, while the CuO performs badly.…”

Section: Graphic Abstract Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facile synthesis of cubic cuprous oxide for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

et al. 2020

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High level of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration is considered one of the main causes of global warming. Electrochemical conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals and fuels has promising potential to be implemented into practical and sustainable devices. In order to efficiently realize this strategy, one of the biggest efforts has been focused on the design of catalysts which are inexpensive, active and selective and can be produced through green and up-scalable routes. In this work, copper-based materials are simply synthesized via microwave-assisted process and carefully characterized by physical/chemical/electrochemical techniques. Nanoparticle with a cupric oxide (CuO) surface as well as various cuprous oxide (Cu2O) cubes with different sizes is obtained and used for the CO2 reduction reaction. It is observed that the Cu2O-derived electrodes show enhanced activity and carbon monoxide (CO) selectivity compared to the CuO-derived one. Among various Cu2O catalysts, the one with the smallest cubes leads to the best CO selectivity of the electrode, attributed to a higher electrochemically active surface area. Under applied potentials, all Cu2O cubes undergo structural and morphological modification, even though the cubic shape is retained. The nanoclusters formed during the material evolution offer abundant and active reaction sites, leading to the high performance of the Cu2O-derived electrodes. Graphic abstract

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“…The experimental data were fitted employing the equivalent electric circuit shown in the inset of Figure S7a , in order to obtain the parameters related to the different processes, namely the high frequency ( R t and C t ) and low frequency ( R ct and C dl ) ones, including the series resistance R s [ 43 ]. Since all the parameters except from the charge transfer resistance R ct exhibit negligible dependence on the applied potential [ 44 ], the values related to the measurement acquired at −0.59 V are reported as examples in Table S5 . On the other hand, of particular interest is the charge transfer resistance R ct , whose values for all the electrodes are shown in Figure S7b as a function of the potential.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zn- and Ti-Doped SnO2 for Enhanced Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide

et al. 2021

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The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 into useful fuels, exploiting rationally designed, inexpensive, active, and selective catalysts, produced through easy, quick, and scalable routes, represents a promising approach to face today’s climate challenges and energy crisis. This work presents a facile strategy for the preparation of doped SnO2 as an efficient electrocatalyst for the CO2 reduction reaction to formic acid and carbon monoxide. Zn or Ti doping was introduced into a mesoporous SnO2 matrix via wet impregnation and atomic layer deposition. It was found that doping of SnO2 generates an increased amount of oxygen vacancies, which are believed to contribute to the CO2 conversion efficiency, and among others, Zn wet impregnation resulted the most efficient process, as confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Electrochemical characterization and active surface area evaluation show an increase of availability of surface active sites. In particular, the introduction of Zn elemental doping results in enhanced performance for formic acid formation, in comparison to un-doped SnO2 and other doped SnO2 catalysts. At −0.99 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, the total faradaic efficiency for CO2 conversion reaches 80%, while the partial current density is 10.3 mA cm−2. These represent a 10% and a threefold increases for faradaic efficiency and current density, respectively, with respect to the reference un-doped sample. The enhancement of these characteristics relates to the improved charge transfer and conductivity with respect to bare SnO2.

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Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of Copper‐Based Electrocatalysts for Converting Carbon Dioxide to Tunable Syngas

Cited by 24 publications

References 42 publications

Coupled Copper–Zinc Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Coupled Copper–Zinc Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Facile synthesis of cubic cuprous oxide for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Zn- and Ti-Doped SnO2 for Enhanced Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide

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