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CO2 Electroreduction on Cu-Modified Platinum Single Crystal Electrodes in Aprotic Media

Authors :
Inna G. Botriakova
A. I. Danilov
M. R. Ehrenburg
Alexander V. Rudnev
Thomas Wandlowski
Elena B. Molodkina
Source :
Electrocatalysis. 6:42-50
Publication Year :
2014
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2014.

Abstract

Techniques of electrode modification by copper deposits are developed that allow obtaining compact bulk quasi-epitaxial deposits on basal Pt(hkl) single crystal faces. The issues of the deposit roughness and characterization are discussed. Problems of drying and transferring electrodes with copper deposits into other solutions are considered. The obtained deposits are used for CO2 electroreduction in propylene carbonate and acetonitrile solutions of 0.1 M TBAPF6, and the relationship between the electrode surface structure and its electrocatalytic activity in CO2 electroreduction is discussed. We also demonstrate that the restructuring of Cu deposits occurs upon CO2 electroreduction. Complementary reactivity studies are presented for bare Pt(hkl) and Cu(hkl) single crystal electrodes. Cu-modified Pt(hkl) electrodes display the highest activity as compared to bare Pt(hkl) and Cu(hkl). Particularly, the Cu/Pt(110) electrode shows the highest activity among the electrodes under study. Such high activity of Cu/Pt(hkl) electrodes can be explained not only by the increasing actual surface area but also by structural effects, namely by the presence of a large amount of specific defect sites (steps, kinks) on Cu crystallites.

Details

ISSN :
18685994 and 18682529
Volume :
6
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Electrocatalysis
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........4a10a4351e13301a9db4beff81dbcf56
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-014-0217-y