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Concentrating and activating carbon dioxide over AuCu aerogel grain boundaries.
- Source :
- Journal of Chemical Physics; 5/29/2020, Vol. 152 Issue 20, p1-7, 7p, 1 Diagram, 3 Graphs
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Alloys are active in CO<subscript>2</subscript> electroreduction due to their unique electronic and geometric structures. Nevertheless, CO<subscript>2</subscript> reduction selectivity is still low due to the low concentration of CO<subscript>2</subscript> near the catalyst surface and the high energy barrier for CO<subscript>2</subscript> activation. This paper describes an AuCu nanochain aerogel (NC–AuCu) with abundant grain boundaries (GBs) that promote the accumulation and activation of CO<subscript>2</subscript> for further electrochemical reduction, employing in situ attenuated total reflection surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. GBs can induce a strong local electric field to concentrate the electrolyte cations and thus accumulate CO<subscript>2</subscript> near the catalyst surface. NC–AuCu exhibits a superior Faradaic efficiency of close to 100% for CO<subscript>2</subscript> electroreduction to CO at an extremely low overpotential of 110 mV with a high CO partial current density of 28.6 mA cm<superscript>−2</superscript> in a flow cell. Coupling with a Si solar cell to convert solar energy to CO, a very high conversion efficiency of ∼13.0% is achieved. It potentially provides broad interest for further academic research and industry applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00219606
- Volume :
- 152
- Issue :
- 20
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Chemical Physics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 143545674
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0007207