The role of atomic carbon in directing electrochemical CO reduction to multicarbon products
Electrochemical reduction of carbon-dioxide/carbon-monoxide (CO (2) R) to fuels and chemicals presents an attractive approach for sustainable chemical synthesis, but it also poses a serious challenge in catalysis. Understanding the key aspects that guide CO (2) R towards value-added multicarbon (C 2...
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Published in | Energy & environmental science Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 473 - 482 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Cambridge
Royal Society of Chemistry
01.01.2021
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Electrochemical reduction of carbon-dioxide/carbon-monoxide (CO
(2)
R) to fuels and chemicals presents an attractive approach for sustainable chemical synthesis, but it also poses a serious challenge in catalysis. Understanding the key aspects that guide CO
(2)
R towards value-added multicarbon (C
2+
) products is imperative in designing an efficient catalyst. Herein, we identify the critical steps toward C
2
products on copper through a combination of energetics from density functional theory and micro-kinetic modeling. We elucidate the importance of atomic carbon in directing C
2+
selectivity and how it introduces surface structural sensitivity on copper catalysts. This insight enables us to propose two simple thermodynamic descriptors that effectively identify C
2+
selectivity on metal catalysts beyond copper and hence it defines an intelligible protocol to screen for materials that selectively catalyze CO
(2)
to C
2+
products.
Atomic carbon plays a role in steering selectivity in electrochemical carbon mono-/dioxide reduction. Appropriate binding strengths of CO and C, combined with four-fold sites, constitute fundamental features toward selective multicarbon production. |
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Bibliography: | 10.1039/d0ee02826f Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI USDOE AC02-05CH11231; SC0004993; SC0021266 |
ISSN: | 1754-5692 1754-5706 |
DOI: | 10.1039/d0ee02826f |