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Selective Methanol‐to‐Formate Electrocatalytic Conversion on Branched Nickel Carbide
Author(s) -
Li Junshan,
Wei Ruilin,
Wang Xiang,
Zuo Yong,
Han Xu,
Arbiol Jordi,
Llorca Jordi,
Yang Yaoyue,
Cabot Andreu,
Cui Chunhua
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202004301
Subject(s) - methanol , formate , catalysis , electrolyte , inorganic chemistry , nickel , chemistry , electrochemistry , methyl formate , carbide , chemical engineering , materials science , electrode , organic chemistry , engineering
A methanol economy will be favored by the availability of low‐cost catalysts able to selectively oxidize methanol to formate. This selective oxidation would allow extraction of the largest part of the fuel energy while concurrently producing a chemical with even higher commercial value than the fuel itself. Herein, we present a highly active methanol electrooxidation catalyst based on abundant elements and with an optimized structure to simultaneously maximize interaction with the electrolyte and mobility of charge carriers. In situ infrared spectroscopy combined with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that branched nickel carbide particles are the first catalyst determined to have nearly 100 % electrochemical conversion of methanol to formate without generating detectable CO 2 as a byproduct. Electrochemical kinetics analysis revealed the optimized reaction conditions and the electrode delivered excellent activities. This work provides a straightforward and cost‐efficient way for the conversion of organic small molecules and the first direct evidence of a selective formate reaction pathway.