Probing CO₂ Reduction Pathways for Copper Catalysis Using an Ionic Liquid as a Chemical Trapping Agent.

ABSTRACT: The key to fully leveraging the potential of the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO2RR) to achieve a sustainable solar-power-based economy is the development of high-performance electrocatalysts. The development process relies heavily on trial and error methods due to poor mechanistic understanding of the reaction. Demonstrated here is that ionic liquids (ILs) can be employed as a chemical trapping agent to probe CO2RR mechanistic pathways. This method is implemented by introducing a small amount of an IL ([BMIm][NTf₂ ]) to a copper foam catalyst, on which a wide range of CO2RR products, including formate, CO, alcohols, and hydrocarbons, can be produced. The IL can selectively suppress the formation of ethylene, ethanol and n-propanol while having little impac

SUBMITTER: Zhang GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7589334 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature