Carbon dioxide is a major industrial waste product as well as a significant greenhouse gas. Conversion of carbon dioxide to useful chemical feedstocks - such as syn-gas - is necessary for the development of a more carbon-neutral future. Common electrodes have previously been demonstrated to catalyze the reduction of CO2 to other C1 products utilizing a high over potential. Copper (I) oxide has demonstrated the ability to catalyze the reduction of CO2 to C1 products in aqueous systems and can be extended to organic media. 4-vinylaniline was covalently grafted to the surfaces of various metal oxides including ITO, Cu2O and Al2O3 using a UV irradiation photografting procedure. The resulting surface was characterized by XPS, AFM, FT-IR, and contact angle goniometry. The electrochemical and catalytic activities of the samples were analyzed in organic media by cyclic voltammetry and potentiostatic methods. Gas chromatography of the headspace of a photoelectrochemical reactor for CO2 reduction was used to determine product selectivity and catalytic activity. When irradiated with a monochromatic light source (l = 405nm), an increased reduction current was observed in the Cu2O samples. The details of the photoelectrocatalysis of the CO2 reduction using photografted, 4-vinylaniline-coated Cu2O samples will be presented.

Functionalization of metal oxide surfaces for photoelectrocatalysis of CO2 reduction

249th National Meeting (2015)

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