Electrochemical reduction of {CO2} on core-shell Cu/Au nanostructure arrays for syngas production
By Chen, Kun; Zhang, Xinyi; Williams, Tim; Bourgeois, Laure; MacFarlane, Douglas R.
Published in Electrochimica Acta
2017
Abstract
Abstract Electrocatalytically converting {CO2} to hydrocarbons is a very attractive way to use the excess electricity generated from renewable energies. In this paper, we report the electrochemical reduction of {CO2} based on Cu nanowire arrays. The Cu nanostructured electrode shows much higher current density than polycrystalline Cu. By sputter coating a thin layer of Au on the Cu nanowires, the Faradaic efficiency (FE) of {CO} can exceed 30%. At an overpotential of 540 mV with respect to the formation of CO, the Cu/Au core-shell nanowire array electrode catalyses the formation of syngas, a very useful gas mixture, with a stable CO/H2 ratio.