The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 has the potential to store energy from intermittent renewable sources and produce carbon neutral liquid fuels. 2H-Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), albeit a well-established hydrogen evolution catalyst, has also shown promising electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO2 to alcohols by controlling surface edge sites. Furthermore, edges sites have been identified by theory calculations as active towards binding of key intermediates such as CO and further hydrogenation can be accessible towards production of alcohols. Additionally, MoS2 can undergo a crystal phase transition from a 2H-MoS2 semiconducting phase to a 1T-MoS2 metallic phase. Previous synthetic measurements have been developed which allow for control over morphologies and allow for control over edge density over the surface, which have been monitored via spectroscopic characterization. We have utilized these synthetic properties to probe its various active sites for CO2 reduction. Characterization of morphology, crystal structure and elemental analysis was performed via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Energy Disperse X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Other characterization techniques focused on the electroanalytical characterization of MoS2 polymorphs such as Gas Chromatography with Thermal Conductivity Detection (GC-TCD) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Preliminary results suggest that under an applied potential of -0.563V vs RHE, minor faradaic efficiencies were observed towards the production of methanol and formate from aqueous CO2.

Synthesis and characterization of 1T-MoS2 electrodes for CO2 conversion

2019 Spring National Meeting

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