The development of a cost effective process for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 could enable a shift to a sustainable energy economy.  Coupled to a renewable energy source such as wind or solar, such a process could generate carbon neutral fuels or chemicals that are conventionally produced from fossil resources.  One key to developing such a process is a catalyst capable of performing the conversion at a low overpotential and high selectivity to the desired product, particularly to hydrocarbons and alcohols.  Unfortunately, known catalysts do not meet these requirements. Transition metals have been previously studied as CO2 electro-reduction catalysts,[1]  revealing that copper is unique amongst the transition metals because it has an intermediate binding energy to CO and, as a result, produces a mixture of hydrocarbons and alcohols as major products.  Despite many detailed studies into copper electrodes,[2] much remains to be learned about the factors that lead to the formation of hydrocarbons and alcohols.  This paper will show new insights gained into these electrochemical processes on copper[3] as well as a number of other transition metals: Au, Ag, Zn, Ni, Pt, and Fe. The focus will be on the production of hydrocarbons and/or alcohols on these metals, and how our recent experimental work agrees with predictions from theory. The ultimate aim is to uncover design principles that can guide the development of improved CO2 electro-reduction catalysts to synthesize fuels and chemicals in a renewable, sustainable fashion.References:Y. Hori, in Handbook of Fuel Cells: Fundamentals, Technology and Application, ed. A. L. Wolf Vielstich, Hubert A. Gasteiger, VHCWiley, Chichester, 2003, vol. 2, pp. 720�733.M. Gattrell, N. Gupta, A. Co; J. Electroanal. Chem., 2006, 594, 1�19.K. P. Kuhl, E. R. Cave, D. N. Abram, T. F. Jaramillo; Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 7050�7059.

Insights into the electrochemical conversion of CO<sub>2</sub> to hydrocarbons and alcohols on transition metals surfaces

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Insights into the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons and alcohols on transition metals surfaces

Insights into the electrochemical conversion of CO₂ to hydrocarbons and alcohols on transition metals surfaces