(Invited) High-Rate CO2 Reduction Reactions: From Electrocatalysts to Gas-Diffusion Electrodes

Abstract

Excessive emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the use of fossil fuels are becoming a serious obstacle to the sustainable development of society. Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) into value-added products using solar electricity is a promising technology to close the carbon cycle and sequester anthropogenic CO2 into chemical feedstocks.[1] The practical implementation of CO2RR requires a high current density, as the current density for CO2RR is directly correlated to the capital cost of the electrodes and electrochemical cells. The use of gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) effectively accelerates CO2RR by overcoming the mass transport limitation due to the inherently low diffusion and solubility of CO2 in water. This presentation summarises our recent studies on high-rate CO2RR from the point of view of both novel electrocatalyst designs and appropriate electrode assembly. Single-atom electrocatalysts (SAECs), consisting of single isolated metal sites dispersed on heterogeneous supports, are one of the promising electrocatalysts for high-rate gaseous CO2RR. We have employed various single metal-doped covalent triazine frameworks (M-CTFs) as a platform for CO2RR electrocatalysts on GDEs and systematically investigated them to derive sophisticated design principles using a combined computational and experimental approach.[2-4] The Ni-CTF exhibited both high selectivity and high reaction rate for CO production. In contrast, the Sn-CTF exhibited selective formic acid production, and the faradaic efficiencies (FEs) and partial current density reached 85% and 150 mA/cm2, respectively.[2] These results were in close agreement with the intermediate CO2RR adsorption strength obtained by DFT calculations. In addition to the synthesis of efficient electrocatalysts, the triple phase boundary (TPB) at the GDE, where the catalyst material, electrolyte, and gas pores intersect, needs to be enlarged for high-rate gaseous CO2RR.[5,6] We successfully increased the partial current density for multicarbon products (C2+) over cupric oxide (CuO) nanoparticles on gas diffusion electrodes in neutral electrolytes to a record value of 1.7 A/cm2 by maximizing the area of the CO2RR active interface.[5] In particular, we demonstrated that the thickness of catalyst layers was one highly sensitive factor in determining the maximum current density for C2+. Although the GDE and electrocatalyst used in this case are not unique, the optimized assembly elicits their undermined potential.[1] K. Kamiya, Nakanishi* et al. Chem. Lett. 2021, 50, 166-179. [2] S. Kato, K. Kamiya* et al. Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 613–620. [3] P. Su, K. Kamiya*et al. , Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 3941-3947. [4] K. Kamiya* Chem. Sci. 2020, 11, 8339–8349. [5] A. Inoue, K. Kamiya* et al. EES Catal. 2023, 1, 9-16. [6] T. Liu*, K. Kamiya* et al. Small 2022, 18, 2205323.