Abstract
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have precipitated considerable research efforts aimed at generating energy from renewable sources, such that consuming this energy does not lead to further increases in atmospheric CO2. Simultaneously, atmospheric CO2 represents a useful feedstock for the storage of renewably-generated energy, in particular through electroreduction of CO2 powered by renewables to give hydrocarbon fuels that when burned do not increase net CO2 levels in the atmosphere. In order to bring such renewable-powered production of hydrocarbons from CO2 to reality, improved electrocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction are required. For example, Cu is the only single metal that demonstrates appreciable Faradaic efficiency for CO2 reduction products that are reduced by more than two-electrons, but pure Cu is not an especially active or selective catalyst for this process. Hence there has been considerable interest in making bimetallic catalysts using Cu in combination with other metals in order to find systems that can reduce CO2 to products such as methane, methanol, ethanol and beyond. In this minireview, we give an overview of recent progress in CO2 electroreduction using bimetallic cathodes composed of copper and various other metals in combination, with a particular focus on studies going beyond two-electron reduction products from the last two years.
Highlights
Introduction toCO2 electroreductionClimate change driven by the historically high levels of carbon di oxide in the atmosphere is one of the biggest challenges facing our so ciety [1]
Electrochemical CO2 reduction has been put forward as a viable technique to produce desirable hydrocarbon fuels which can be consumed without increasing the overall amount of CO2 in the atmo sphere, as part of a closed carbon cycle [2]
Cu electrodes have gained attention for CO2 electroreduction since Hori’s seminal papers [9,10,11] wherein it was found that Cu displayed a unique activity towards the production of hydrocarbons compared to other pure metal electrodes
Summary
Climate change driven by the historically high levels of carbon di oxide in the atmosphere is one of the biggest challenges facing our so ciety [1]. The most note worthy alloy was that of copper and nickel (Cu/Ni 90:10), which supressed CO production in favour of methanol at a peak Faradaic ef ficiency of 7% at –0.9 V vs SHE These results indicated a synergistic effect between Cu and Ni. These results indicated a synergistic effect between Cu and Ni This deviation from linear scaling relations has since been recognised as a combination of two effects: the electronic effect, which modifies the binding environment for intermediates, and the geometric effect, which changes the arrangement of the atoms at the active site [15]. The selectivity of Cu–M alloys is modified by varying the nature of M This is simple in theory, results can be mixed, especially since the catalyst composition and metal arrangement both affect which reaction pathway dominates.
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