Probing CO2 Reduction Pathways for Copper Catalysis Using an Ionic Liquid as a Chemical Trapping Agent

Zhang GR, Straub SD, Shen LL, Hermans Y, Schmatz P, Reichert A, Hofmann JP, Katsounaros I, Etzold BJ (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Angewandte Chemie Wiley

DOI: 10.1002/ange.202009498

Abstract

The key to fully leveraging the potential of the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to achieve a sustainable solar-power-based economy is the development of high-performance electrocatalysts. The development process relies heavily on trial and error methods due to poor mechanistic understanding of the reaction. Demonstrated here is that ionic liquids (ILs) can be employed as a chemical trapping agent to probe CO2RR mechanistic pathways. This method is implemented by introducing a small amount of an IL ([BMIm][NTf2]) to a copper foam catalyst, on which a wide range of CO2RR products, including formate, CO, alcohols, and hydrocarbons, can be produced. The IL can selectively suppress the formation of ethylene, ethanol and n-propanol while having little impact on others. Thus, reaction networks leading to various products can be disentangled. The results shed new light on the mechanistic understanding of the CO2RR, and provide guidelines for modulating the CO2RR properties. Chemical trapping using an IL adds to the toolbox to deduce the mechanistic understanding of electrocatalysis and could be applied to other reactions as well.

Authors with CRIS profile

Andreas Reichert Lehrstuhl für Elektrokatalyse (HIERN) Ioannis Katsounaros Lehrstuhl für Elektrokatalyse (HIERN) Bastian Etzold

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität Darmstadt DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Zhang, G.R., Straub, S.D., Shen, L.L., Hermans, Y., Schmatz, P., Reichert, A.,... Etzold, B.J. (2020). Probing CO2 Reduction Pathways for Copper Catalysis Using an Ionic Liquid as a Chemical Trapping Agent. Angewandte Chemie. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ange.202009498

MLA:

Zhang, Gui Rong, et al. "Probing CO2 Reduction Pathways for Copper Catalysis Using an Ionic Liquid as a Chemical Trapping Agent." Angewandte Chemie (2020).

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