Extra emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, induced by human industrial activities, has been considered one of the primary causes in possible global warming due to the greenhouse effect, and also becoming an increasing concern in recent years. To address this issue, using electrochemical reduction to convert CO2 to useful small fuels such as CH4, CH3OH, HCOOH, C2H2, etc. represents a value-added approach to the simultaneous generation of alternative fuels and environmental remediation of carbon emissions from the continued use of conventional fuels. In particular, by storing the generated energy as a liquid fuel, for example HCOOH or HCOO-, the energy can be transported readily or regenerated to electricity using fuel cells. A key technological challenge is the slow electrode kinetics of CO2 electroreduction for all known catalysts, which require a substantial overpotential, thus not only causes low energy efficiency but also induces high hydrogen evolution. If we are able to achieve efficient electrochemical processes, many renewable electrical energy resources can be used to reduce CO2, simultaneously solving the storage issues of intermittent energies such as wind, solar and hydro.In the effort to improve catalytic activity and stability, two important aspects of catalyst materials have to be improved, which are the composite materials and nanostructured catalyst materials, respectively. On one hand, the unique properties such as high specific surface area can provide easy diffusion path lengths for substrates to access, leading to faster kinetics. On the other hand, the nanostructures can provide the different surface morphology, thus providing more active sites for CO2 electroreduction and in controlling the product selectivity. In view of these facts, we here report the synthesis and properties of novel Cu/Sn nonstructured oxides related catalysts with special 3D-nanaoflower structures and, their catalytic activities toward CO2 electroreduction including activity, selectivity and stability are investigated at Gas Diffusion Electrode.

Novel approach to CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction based on 3D-Cu/Sn nanostructured oxides related catalysts with high selectivity and stability

248th National Meeting (2014)

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Novel approach to CO2 electroreduction based on 3D-Cu/Sn nanostructured oxides related catalysts with high selectivity and stability

Novel approach to CO₂ electroreduction based on 3D-Cu/Sn nanostructured oxides related catalysts with high selectivity and stability