Investigation of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction on Cost Effective Copper Zinc Oxide Electrocatalyst

Abstract

The electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added products is a potential way to mitigate climate change and carbon neutrality. The catalyst design plays a significant role in achieving CO2 product selectivity and efficiency. Herein this report presents a straightforward electrochemical modification of bimetallic CuZn catalyst for efficient reduction of CO2 to formate. The surface treatment of CuZn catalyst at different anodized times in an aqueous medium has been widely investigated. Among them, the modified electrocatalyst CuZnO-45 has a minimum onset potential of −0.274 V vs RHE for electrochemical reduction of CO2. Further, scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM) results reveal the electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to formate. This study has been extended for the continuous electrolysis process to quantify the product formation. The bimetallic CuZnO-45 nanostructure catalyst has the ability to produce a maximum faradaic efficiency of 88.3%, and 35.3 mA cm−2 partial current density was accomplished at the potential of −0.86 V vs RHE. This work covers the design of a highly electroactive and stable bimetallic catalyst for electrochemical CO2 reduction