Electro-Oxidation of Glycerol into Formic Acid by Nickel-Copper Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Herein, non-precious metallic nickel-copper electrocatalysts were synthesized for electro-oxidation of glycerol in alkaline electrolytes. Activated carbon felt (ACF) is used as a supporting material because of its good conductivity, chemical inertness, and porous structure which is conducive to the transport of the reactants/electrons. The structural features of the catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrochemical activity of the catalysts was revealed by cyclic voltammetry, linear sweeping voltammetry, and chronoamperometry. The electrochemical results show that the Cu1Ni1@ACF catalyst possesses the highest current density of 1.31 mA cm−2 at 1.895 V. High-performance liquid chromatography results show that the as-prepared catalysts have high selectivities for formic acid (FA). Especially, the Cu1Ni1@ACF catalyst yields a selectivity of 97.4% for FA, which has so far been the largest value reported in the literature. Additionally, the effects of applied potentials and reaction time on product selectivity were studied.