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CdS‐Enhanced Ethanol Selectivity in Electrocatalytic CO 2 Reduction at Sulfide‐Derived Cu−Cd
Author(s) -
Mosali Venkata Sai Sriram,
Zhang Xiaolong,
Liang Yan,
Li Linbo,
Puxty Graeme,
Horne Michael D.,
BrajterToth Anna,
Bond Alan M.,
Zhang Jie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.202100903
Subject(s) - overpotential , faraday efficiency , selectivity , catalysis , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , sulfide , ethanol , copper , cadmium sulfide , electrode , organic chemistry
The development of Cu‐based catalysts for the electrochemical CO 2 reduction reaction (eCO 2 RR) is of major interest for generating commercially important C 2 liquid products such as ethanol. Cu is exclusive among the eCO 2 RR metallic catalysts in that it facilitates the formation of a range of highly reduced C 2 products, with a reasonable total faradaic efficiency but poor product selectivity. Here, a series of new sulfide‐derived copper‐cadmium catalysts (SD‐Cu x Cd y ) was developed. An excellent faradaic efficiency of around 32 % but with a relatively low current density of 0.6 mA cm −2 for ethanol was obtained using the SD‐CuCd 2 catalyst at the relatively low overpotential of 0.89 V in a CO 2 ‐saturated aqueous 0.10 m KHCO 3 solution with an H‐cell. The current density increased by an order of magnitude under similar conditions using a flow cell where the mass transport rate for CO 2 was greatly enhanced. Ex situ spectroscopic and microscopic, and voltammetric investigations pointed to the role of abundant phase boundaries between CdS and Cu + /Cu sites in the SD‐CuCd 2 catalyst in enhancing the selectivity and efficiency of ethanol formation at low potentials.