Tunable Syngas Formation from Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction on Copper Nanowire Arrays

Abstract

Producing syngas from electrochemical reduction of CO 2 by renewable energy offers an opportunity to reduce CO 2 emissions and provide chemicals and fuels. Herein, we report the careful manipulation of the reduction treatment to synthesize copper nanowire arrays (Cu NAs). By thermal oxidation, copper oxide nanowires were grown on a Cu mesh. Then, thermal reduction and electrochemical reduction were used to reduce copper oxide to Cu with the morphologic features largely preserved. The derived Cu NAs are cost-effective electrocatalysts capable of reducing CO 2 and H 2 O for tunable syngas production. It is demonstrated that syngas, the mixture of H 2 and CO, could be attained with a wide range of compositions (from 1:2 to 3:1) from CO 2 reduction and H 2 O reduction on these Cu NAs in aqueous solutions. In addition, Cu NAs show a high current density, 4 mA/cm 2 , at a low potential, −0.5 V, with a high syngas faradaic efficiency of over 70%. This approach explores a new method that sheds light on tuning the syngas composition from the electrochemical CO 2 reduction by Cu-based catalysts.

Tuning the efficiency and product composition for electrocatalytic CO2reduction to syngas over zinc films by morphology and wettability

“…The fabrication of electrodes with high catalyst selectivity, CO 2 /H + mass transfer, and charge transfer are most important for achieving high syngas yield with controllable CO/H 2 ratios. [14][15][16] Hitherto, many strategies have been invested to enhance syngas production rate in aqueous solutions, including hybrid modulation, 17,18 alloying, 19,20 metal oxidation, 21 single atoms, 22 bimetallic layered conjugated MOF 23 and defect adjusting. 24,25 Even though a majority of catalysts can tune the CO/H 2 yield via modulating the active sites for CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) and HER, the catalytic activity is still limited by the low concentration of CO 2 and slow diffusivity to the catalyst surface.…”

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

“…This work is different from previously published works using nanowire substrates, [ 44–45 ] where researchers employed substrates with multiple nanowires. These electrodes experience serious mass transport issues, especially at large overpotentials.…”

Recent Advancement of Emerging Nano Copper-Based Printable Flexible Hybrid Electronics

“…The highly conductive Cu patterns have been printed on the flexible substrates, such as glass, − polyvinylidene fluoride, polyethersulphone (PES), polyimides, − polyethylene terephthalate (PET,) − and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramics . This has led to several emerging electronics applications, involving radio frequency identification devices (RFID), − sensors, − antennas, − photovoltaic electrode contacts, − catalysts, − flexible and transparent electronics, − and thin film transistors. , We discuss the preparation of Cu ink materials and their printing deposition followed by an adequate thermal decomposition or sintering process to obtain flexible hybrid electronics. This review also describes how to keep the printed copper pattern from being oxidized and how to improve its electronic performance …”