Even though recent explorations in the field of carbonaceous materials show the indication of their promising performance for CO2 reduction, the efficiency of formation of reduction products as methanol, and small hydrocarbons is rather low. Further efforts should directly focus on the structure and chemical composition of catalysts and their porosity since they should impact the transport of reactants and products. The porosity combined with specific chemistry can be a unique and crucial asset of nanoporous carbons. Of course, the challenge is not only in achieving CO2 efficient reduction itself but also, as for any application of carbonaceous materials, it in their stability and in an identification/design of surface features, which would support that stability for a specific catalytic process. This study explores the nanoporous structure and active sites of CO2 electroreduction reaction to CO and methane on two metal-free polymer-derived nanoporous carbons doped either with sulfur or nitrogen and sulfur. The products were quantified by gas chromatography. Faradaic efficiencies of CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 were compared on these two materials. The incorporated nitrogen functional groups were found to be most active for CO2 reduction. These studies indicate that on the N-doped nanoporous carbon the electrochemical reduction of CO2 is enhanced in terms of reducing the overpotential and increased the faradaic efficiency of CO formation. There is an indication that the nanoporous structure of carbon promotes reduction of CO2 to CH4. Our results highlight a new class of low-cost, abundant electrocatalysts for synthetic fuel production from CO2.

Exploring CO2 reduction on heteroatom-doped nanoporous carbons

251st National Meeting (2016)

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