skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Electrochemical Carbon Monoxide Reduction on Polycrystalline Copper: Effects of Potential, Pressure, and pH on Selectivity toward Multicarbon and Oxygenated Products

Journal Article · · ACS Catalysis

Here by understanding the surface reactivity of CO, which is a key intermediate during electrochemical CO2 reduction, is crucial for the development of catalysts that selectively target desired products for the conversion of CO2 to fuels and chemicals. In this study, a custom-designed electrochemical cell is utilized to investigate planar polycrystalline copper as an electrocatalyst for CO reduction under alkaline conditions. Seven major CO reduction products have been observed including various hydrocarbons and oxygenates which are also common CO2 reduction products, strongly indicating that CO is a key reaction intermediate for these further-reduced products. A comparison of CO and CO2 reduction demonstrates that there is a large decrease in the overpotential for C–C coupled products under CO reduction conditions. The effects of CO partial pressure and electrolyte pH are investigated; we conclude that the aforementioned large potential shift is primarily a pH effect. Thus, alkaline conditions can be used to increase the energy efficiency of CO and CO2 reduction to C–C coupled products, when these cathode reactions are coupled to the oxygen evolution reaction at the anode. Further analysis of the reaction products reveals common trends in selectivity that indicate both the production of oxygenates and C–C coupled products are favored at lower overpotentials. These selectivity trends are generalized by comparing the results on planar Cu to current state-of-the-art high-surface-area Cu catalysts, which are able to achieve high oxygenate selectivity by operating at the same geometric current density at lower overpotentials. Combined, these findings outline key principles for designing CO and CO2 electrolyzers that are able to produce valuable C–C coupled products with high energy efficiency.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004993; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1469211
Journal Information:
ACS Catalysis, Vol. 8, Issue 8; Related Information: The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acscatal.8b01200; ISSN 2155-5435
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 259 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (50)

Catalysis of the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide journal January 2013
Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to hydrocarbons to store renewable electrical energy and upgrade biogas journal April 2007
Frontiers, Opportunities, and Challenges in Biochemical and Chemical Catalysis of CO 2 Fixation journal June 2013
A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy journal January 2016
Synthesis of thin film AuPd alloys and their investigation for electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction journal January 2015
Nickel–Gallium-Catalyzed Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 to Highly Reduced Products at Low Overpotentials journal February 2016
Opportunities and challenges in the electrocatalysis of CO2 and CO reduction using bifunctional surfaces: A theoretical and experimental study of Au–Cd alloys journal November 2016
How copper catalyzes the electroreduction of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels journal January 2010
PRODUCTION OF CO AND CH 4 IN ELECTROCHEMICAL REDUCTION OF CO 2 AT METAL ELECTRODES IN AQUEOUS HYDROGENCARBONATE SOLUTION journal November 1985
A review of the aqueous electrochemical reduction of CO2 to hydrocarbons at copper journal August 2006
Understanding Selectivity for the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid and Carbon Monoxide on Metal Electrodes journal June 2017
Catalysts and Reaction Pathways for the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal September 2015
Electroreduction of carbon monoxide to methane and ethylene at a copper electrode in aqueous solutions at ambient temperature and pressure journal August 1987
Electrochemical Reduction of CO at a Copper Electrode journal September 1997
Structure Sensitivity of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Monoxide on Copper Single Crystals journal April 2013
Two Pathways for the Formation of Ethylene in CO Reduction on Single-Crystal Copper Electrodes journal June 2012
A DEMS Study of the Reduction of CO2, CO, and HCHO Pre-Adsorbed on Cu Electrodes: Empirical Inferences on the CO2RR Mechanism journal January 2015
Electroreduction of carbon monoxide to liquid fuel on oxide-derived nanocrystalline copper journal April 2014
Probing the Active Surface Sites for CO Reduction on Oxide-Derived Copper Electrocatalysts journal July 2015
Acetaldehyde as an Intermediate in the Electroreduction of Carbon Monoxide to Ethanol on Oxide-Derived Copper journal December 2015
New insights into the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metallic copper surfaces journal January 2012
Effects of temperature and gas–liquid mass transfer on the operation of small electrochemical cells for the quantitative evaluation of CO 2 reduction electrocatalysts journal January 2016
Structure- and Potential-Dependent Cation Effects on CO Reduction at Copper Single-Crystal Electrodes journal November 2017
One-step electrosynthesis of ethylene and ethanol from CO2 in an alkaline electrolyzer journal January 2016
CO 2 electroreduction to ethylene via hydroxide-mediated copper catalysis at an abrupt interface journal May 2018
Initial and later stages of anodic oxide formation on Cu, chemical aspects, structure and electronic properties journal August 2001
Competition between CO 2 Reduction and H 2 Evolution on Transition-Metal Electrocatalysts journal September 2014
“Deactivation of copper electrode” in electrochemical reduction of CO2 journal September 2005
Quantification of liquid products from the electroreduction of CO2 and CO using static headspace-gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy journal June 2017
Electroreduction of CO on Polycrystalline Copper at Low Overpotentials journal February 2018
Theoretical Insights into a CO Dimerization Mechanism in CO 2 Electroreduction journal May 2015
Theoretical Considerations on the Electroreduction of CO to C 2 Species on Cu(100) Electrodes journal June 2013
The Importance of Cannizzaro-Type Reactions during Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide journal January 2017
A new mechanism for the selectivity to C1 and C2 species in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on copper electrodes journal January 2011
Surface reconstruction of pure-Cu single-crystal electrodes under CO-reduction potentials in alkaline solutions: A study by seriatim ECSTM-DEMS journal November 2016
Spectroscopic Observation of a Hydrogenated CO Dimer Intermediate During CO Reduction on Cu(100) Electrodes journal February 2017
The influence of pH on the reduction of CO and CO 2 to hydrocarbons on copper electrodes journal March 2014
Understanding trends in electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction rates journal May 2017
Engineering Cu surfaces for the electrocatalytic conversion of CO 2 : Controlling selectivity toward oxygenates and hydrocarbons journal May 2017
The importance of surface morphology in controlling the selectivity of polycrystalline copper for CO2 electroreduction journal January 2012
Fundamental Concepts in Heterogeneous Catalysis book January 2014
Improving the hydrogen oxidation reaction rate by promotion of hydroxyl adsorption journal February 2013
Competition between Hydrogen Evolution and Carbon Dioxide Reduction on Copper Electrodes in Mildly Acidic Media journal May 2017
Potential Dependence of Electrochemical Barriers from ab Initio Calculations journal April 2016
Low-Overpotential Electroreduction of Carbon Monoxide Using Copper Nanowires journal June 2017
Electrocatalytic Production of C3-C4 Compounds by Conversion of CO 2 on a Chloride-Induced Bi-Phasic Cu 2 O-Cu Catalyst journal October 2015
Subsurface Oxygen in Oxide-Derived Copper Electrocatalysts for Carbon Dioxide Reduction journal December 2016
Plasma-Activated Copper Nanocube Catalysts for Efficient Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction to Hydrocarbons and Alcohols journal April 2017
Is Subsurface Oxygen Necessary for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 on Copper? journal January 2018
The effects of currents and potentials on the selectivities of copper toward carbon dioxide electroreduction journal March 2018

Cited By (23)

What would it take for renewably powered electrosynthesis to displace petrochemical processes? journal April 2019
Rational catalyst and electrolyte design for CO2 electroreduction towards multicarbon products journal March 2019
Enhanced Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol Using Zinc Dendrites Pulse‐Deposited on Silver Foam journal February 2019
Advances and challenges in electrochemical CO 2 reduction processes: an engineering and design perspective looking beyond new catalyst materials journal January 2020
Enhanced Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol Using Zinc Dendrites Pulse-Deposited on Silver Foam journal January 2019
Double layer charging driven carbon dioxide adsorption limits the rate of electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction on Gold journal January 2020
Formation of carbon–nitrogen bonds in carbon monoxide electrolysis journal August 2019
pH effects on the electrochemical reduction of CO(2) towards C2 products on stepped copper journal January 2019
Mechanistic reaction pathways of enhanced ethylene yields during electroreduction of CO2–CO co-feeds on Cu and Cu-tandem electrocatalysts journal October 2019
Hydroxide Is Not a Promoter of C 2+ Product Formation in the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Copper journal January 2020
Two-dimensional copper nanosheets for electrochemical reduction of carbon monoxide to acetate journal April 2019
Selective reduction of CO to acetaldehyde with CuAg electrocatalysts journal January 2020
Hydroxide Is Not a Promoter of C 2+ Product Formation in the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Copper journal March 2020
Constraining CO coverage on copper promotes high-efficiency ethylene electroproduction journal November 2019
Selectivity of Chemical Conversions: Do Light‐Driven Photoelectrocatalytic Processes Hold Special Promise? journal November 2019
Hydrogen bonding steers the product selectivity of electrocatalytic CO reduction journal April 2019
New aspects of operando Raman spectroscopy applied to electrochemical CO 2 reduction on Cu foams journal January 2019
Anomalous hydrogen evolution behavior in high-pH environment induced by locally generated hydronium ions journal October 2019
Selectivity of Chemical Conversions: Do Light‐Driven Photoelectrocatalytic Processes Hold Special Promise? journal November 2019
Electrochemically converting carbon monoxide to liquid fuels by directing selectivity with electrode surface area journal June 2019
Cover Picture: Hydroxide Is Not a Promoter of C 2+ Product Formation in the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Copper (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 11/2020) journal January 2020
Titelbild: Hydroxide Is Not a Promoter of C 2+ Product Formation in the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Copper (Angew. Chem. 11/2020) journal March 2020
Potential-Dependent CO2 Electroreduction Pathways on Cu(111) Based on an Improved Electrode/Aqueous Interface Model: Determination of the Origin of the Overpotentials journal October 2019