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Title: Tailoring Copper Nanocrystals towards C 2 Products in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction

Abstract

Abstract Favoring the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) over the hydrogen evolution reaction and controlling the selectivity towards multicarbon products are currently major scientific challenges in sustainable energy research. It is known that the morphology of the catalyst can modulate catalytic activity and selectivity, yet this remains a relatively underexplored area in electrochemical CO 2 reduction. Here, we exploit the material tunability afforded by colloidal chemistry to establish unambiguous structure/property relations between Cu nanocrystals and their behavior as electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction. Our study reveals a non‐monotonic size‐dependence of the selectivity in cube‐shaped copper nanocrystals. Among 24 nm, 44 nm and 63 nm cubes tested, the cubes with 44 nm edge length exhibited the highest selectivity towards CO2RR (80 %) and faradaic efficiency for ethylene (41 %). Statistical analysis of the surface atom density suggests the key role played by edge sites in CO2RR.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Department of Chemical Sciences and Engineering École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne 1950 Sion Switzerland
  2. Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA 94720 USA, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA 94720 USA
  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of California Berkeley CA 94720 USA
  4. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA 94720 USA
  5. Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA 94720 USA, Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of California Berkeley CA 94720 USA
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1401659
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; SC0004993
Resource Type:
Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Angewandte Chemie
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Angewandte Chemie Journal Volume: 128 Journal Issue: 19; Journal ID: ISSN 0044-8249
Publisher:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Loiudice, Anna, Lobaccaro, Peter, Kamali, Esmail A., Thao, Timothy, Huang, Brandon H., Ager, Joel W., and Buonsanti, Raffaella. Tailoring Copper Nanocrystals towards C 2 Products in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction. Germany: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/ange.201601582.
Loiudice, Anna, Lobaccaro, Peter, Kamali, Esmail A., Thao, Timothy, Huang, Brandon H., Ager, Joel W., & Buonsanti, Raffaella. Tailoring Copper Nanocrystals towards C 2 Products in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction. Germany. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201601582
Loiudice, Anna, Lobaccaro, Peter, Kamali, Esmail A., Thao, Timothy, Huang, Brandon H., Ager, Joel W., and Buonsanti, Raffaella. Tue . "Tailoring Copper Nanocrystals towards C 2 Products in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction". Germany. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201601582.
@article{osti_1401659,
title = {Tailoring Copper Nanocrystals towards C 2 Products in Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction},
author = {Loiudice, Anna and Lobaccaro, Peter and Kamali, Esmail A. and Thao, Timothy and Huang, Brandon H. and Ager, Joel W. and Buonsanti, Raffaella},
abstractNote = {Abstract Favoring the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) over the hydrogen evolution reaction and controlling the selectivity towards multicarbon products are currently major scientific challenges in sustainable energy research. It is known that the morphology of the catalyst can modulate catalytic activity and selectivity, yet this remains a relatively underexplored area in electrochemical CO 2 reduction. Here, we exploit the material tunability afforded by colloidal chemistry to establish unambiguous structure/property relations between Cu nanocrystals and their behavior as electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction. Our study reveals a non‐monotonic size‐dependence of the selectivity in cube‐shaped copper nanocrystals. Among 24 nm, 44 nm and 63 nm cubes tested, the cubes with 44 nm edge length exhibited the highest selectivity towards CO2RR (80 %) and faradaic efficiency for ethylene (41 %). Statistical analysis of the surface atom density suggests the key role played by edge sites in CO2RR.},
doi = {10.1002/ange.201601582},
journal = {Angewandte Chemie},
number = 19,
volume = 128,
place = {Germany},
year = {Tue Apr 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Apr 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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