Electrochemical CO2 reduction has been shown to be extremely sensitive to the composition of the electrolyte. In this talk I will discuss our theoretical investigations of 1) the effect of pH and 2) the effect of cation identity for CO2 reduction on Au, Ag, and Ag electrodes. Critical to both effects is the interfacial field-stabilization of polar intermediates critical to CO2 reduction, which result in large shifts in activity with pH and ion identity. Based on ab initio simulations of reaction energetics, we formulate corresponding kinetic models which are evaluated against experimental activity data. We discuss the implications of our findings for catalyst design and electrolyte engineering.

Effect of the electrolyte on electrochemical CO2 reduction

2019 Fall National Meeting

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