Highly Efficient Solar‐Driven Carbon Dioxide Reduction on Molybdenum Disulfide Catalyst Using Choline Chloride‐Based Electrolyte
[3];
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago IL 60616 USA
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana IL 61801 USA
- Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago IL 60607 USA
- Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division Argonne National Laboratory Argonne IL 60439 USA
- Materials Science Division Argonne National Laboratory Argonne IL 60439 USA
- Department of Civil and Materials Engineering University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago IL 60607 USA
Abstract Conversion of CO 2 to energy‐rich chemicals using renewable energy is of much interest to close the anthropogenic carbon cycle. However, the current photoelectrochemical systems are still far from being practically feasible. Here the successful demonstration of a continuous, energy efficient, and scalable solar‐driven CO 2 reduction process based on earth‐abundant molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) catalyst, which works in synergy with an inexpensive hybrid electrolyte of choline chloride (a common food additive for livestock) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) is reported. The CO 2 saturated hybrid electrolyte utilized in this study also acts as a buffer solution (pH ≈ 7.6) to adjust pH during the reactions. This study reveals that this system can efficiently convert CO 2 to CO with solar‐to‐fuel and catalytic conversion efficiencies of 23% and 83%, respectively. Using density functional theory calculations, a new reaction mechanism in which the water molecules near the MoS 2 cathode act as proton donors to facilitate the CO 2 reduction process by MoS 2 catalyst is proposed. This demonstration of a continuous, cost‐effective, and energy efficient solar driven CO 2 conversion process is a key step toward the industrialization of this technology.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐AC02‐06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1491422
- Journal Information:
- Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Vol. 9 Journal Issue: 9; ISSN 1614-6832
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- Germany
- Language:
- English
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