Published February 9, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

B‐Cu‐Zn Gas Diffusion Electrodes for CO2 Electroreduction to C2+ Products at High Current Densities

Creators

  • 1. Electrochemical Sciences (CES), Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstrasse 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany
  • 2. Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Stiftstrasse 34–36, 45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
  • 3. Chemical Technology III, Faculty of Chemistry and CENIDE, Center for Nanointegration University Duisburg Essen, Carl-Benz-Strasse 199, 47057 Duisburg, Germany

Description

Electroreduction of CO2 to multi‐carbon products has attracted considerable attention as it provides an avenue to high‐density renewable energy storage. However, the selectivity and stability under high current densities are rarely reported. Herein, B‐doped Cu (B‐Cu) and B‐Cu‐Zn gas diffusion electrodes (GDE) were developed for highly selective and stable CO2 conversion to C2+ products at industrially relevant current densities. The B‐Cu GDE exhibited a high Faradaic efficiency of 79 % for C2+ products formation at a current density of −200 mA cm−2 and a potential of −0.45 V vs. RHE. The long‐term stability for C2+ formation was substantially improved by incorporating an optimal amount of Zn. Operando Raman spectra confirm the retained Cu+ species under CO2 reduction conditions and the lower overpotential for *OCO formation upon incorporation of Zn, which lead to the excellent conversion of CO2 to C2+ products on B‐Cu‐Zn GDEs.

Notes

The project has received funding from the ERC (CasCat [833408]) and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in the framework of the research unit FOR 2397e2 (276655237) as well as under Germany's Excellence Strategy—EXC 2033–390677874—RESOLV. CA acknowledges funding by the BMBF in the framework of the NanomatFutur project "MatGasDif" (03XP0263). NS acknowledges the Alexander von Humboldt foundation for a Postdoc fellowship. Y.S. is grateful to the International Clean Energy Talent Program (iCET) hosted by the Future Energy Profile at Mälardalen University in cooperation with the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and the Applied Energy Journal. The authors acknowledge the support of Dr Ulrich Hagemann from the DFG core facility ICAN (DFG RI 00313) for a part of the XPS measurements. Sandra Schmidt is acknowledged for help with the SEM measurements. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

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DOI10.1002anie.202016898.pdf

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
CASCAT - Catalytic cascade reactions. From fundamentals of nanozymes to applications based on gas-diffusion electrodes 833408