Abstract
A simple, inexpensive, and novel method was used to prepare electrocatalysts from Cu supported on titanium dioxide (Cu/TiO2). XRD, SEM, and TEM characterizations confirmed different loadings of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) on TiO2. Cyclic voltammetry tests indicated that Cu/TiO2 exhibited lower overpotential for CO2 reduction than that of Cu NPs. Moreover, 40 wt % Cu/TiO2 exhibited the highest faradaic efficiency for ethanol (FEethanol) of 27.4%, which is approximately 10-fold higher than that for Cu NPs (FEethanol = 2.7%). The 40 wt % Cu/TiO2 electrocatalyst exhibits a stable current density of 8.66 mA/cm2 over a 25 h stability test. The high efficiency towards CO2 electroreduction to ethanol may be attributed to the synergistic effect of Cu and TiO2 NPs. This work highlights the importance of compositional effect of NPs on their catalytic activities and provides a strategy for designing efficient catalysts for CO2 electroreduction in the future.
Highlights
IntroductionHigh atmospheric CO2 concentrations are associated with greenhouse effect and climate change, which have gained increased research attention [1,2]
Large-scale consumption of fossil fuel has increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.High atmospheric CO2 concentrations are associated with greenhouse effect and climate change, which have gained increased research attention [1,2]
The presence of Cu and TiO2 was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis (Figure S1, Supplementary Materials (SM)); the results showed signals corresponding to copper, titanium, and oxygen
Summary
High atmospheric CO2 concentrations are associated with greenhouse effect and climate change, which have gained increased research attention [1,2]. Electroreduction is a potential efficient method for CO2 utilization and recycling, which can be performed at moderate temperature and atmospheric pressure and exhibits high product selectivity compared with other reduction methods, such as chemical, photochemical, and thermochemical methods. Few studies have investigated the use of metal supported on metal oxides to form different composites, which have been reported to possess improved faradaic efficiencies (FEs) for CO2 reduction compared to both parent metal and metal oxide. Yu and his team [5] report that copper nanoparticle interspersed MoS2 nanoflowers facilitate CO2 electroreduction to hydrocarbon, such as CH4 and C2 H4 with high FE at low overpotentials. Sun et al [6] demonstrated a new strategy of controlling synergistic effect between
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