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Low cost and efficient alloy electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction to formate

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Shahid Rasul, Adrien Pugnant, Hang Xiang, Dr Jean-Marie Fontmorin, Professor Eileen Yu

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Oxide-derived (OD) Sn and Sn-Pb-Sb composite electrocatalysts were prepared by electrochemical oxidation treatment at various potentials for electrochemical reduction of CO 2 (eCO 2 R) for formate (HCOO - ) production. The morphology, elemental mapping, phase identification, surface characteristics and electrochemical performance of the electrocatalysts were probed systematically. The surface of OD-Sn and OD-Sn-Pb-Sb shows polycrystalline electrodes with porous morphology and XPS results confirm the formation of composite metal/metal oxide surface related to Sn, Pb and Sb. The EDX mapping analysis shows two distant regions of Pb and Sn rich areas in the alloy. The electrochemical results demonstrate that pristine Sn electrodes show higher CO 2 Faradaic Efficiency (FE) to formate compared to pristine Sn-Pb-Sb alloy electrode (80% vs. 66%) at -1.4 V vs. RHE. Upon oxidation treatment of pristine Sn at 4 V, the FE HCOO- improves to 84% at the expense of decreased current density. On the contrary, upon oxidation treatment of Sn-Pb-Sb alloy at 5 V, the FE HCOO- improved remarkably from 68% to 91% without any reduction in current density. The improved eCO 2 R performance of OD-Sn and OD-Sn-Pb-Sb electrodes relative to their pristine electrodes could be attributed to the presence of composite metal/metal oxide structure which leads to local geometric and electronic structural changes.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Rasul S, Pugnant A, Xiang H, Fontmorin J-M, Yu EH

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of CO2 Utilization

Year: 2019

Volume: 32

Pages: 1-10

Print publication date: 01/07/2019

Online publication date: 03/04/2019

Acceptance date: 20/03/2019

Date deposited: 23/04/2019

ISSN (print): 2212-9820

ISSN (electronic): 2212-9839

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2019.03.016

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcou.2019.03.016

Data Access Statement: https://doi.org/10.17634/150659-5


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
EP/N009746/1EPSRC
EP/R021503/1EPSRC
NE/L014246/1

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