A research team led by Profs. WEI Wei and CHEN Wei from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported a hierarchical micro/nanostructured silver hollow-fiber electrode to boost CO 2 electroreduction.
The electrode reduces CO 2 to CO with CO 2 conversions exceeding 54% at a high space velocity of 31,000 mL∙g cat -1 ∙h -1 under ambient conditions, maintaining stable large current densities (~1.26 A∙cm -2 ) and high CO faradaic efficiencies (~93%).
The results were published in Nature Communications on June 2.
The electrochemical conversion of CO 2 into carbon-based fuels and valuable feedstocks by renewable electricity is an attractive strategy for CO 2 abatement and renewable energy consumption that can help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality.
CO is the key component of syngas, a mixture of CO and H 2 that can be directly converted into various value-added chemicals via well-developed industrial processes such as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, methanol synthesis, etc. Therefore, CO 2 electroreduction to CO is considered one of the most promising means of obtaining cost-competitive products. However, highly efficient CO 2 conversion with high space velocity under mild conditions remains a challenge.
The hollow-fiber electrode with hierarchical micro/nanostructures in this study is composed of only metallic silver (Ag) for electroreducing CO 2 to CO. Such a porous, hollow-fiber Ag electrode acting as a CO 2 disperser not only enhances three-phase interface reactions but also guides mass transfers during electrolysis.
Electrochemical results and time-resolved operando Raman spectra demonstrate that enhanced three-phase interface reactions and oriented mass transfers synergistically boost CO production.
This result provides new opportunities for heightening three-phase interface reactions and mass transfer kinetics simultaneously. In addition, it demonstrates that the micro/nanostructured Ag hollow fiber can be an ideal industrial electrode with excellent durability, representing an encouraging advancement in CO 2 electroreduction that may lead to scalable applications.
Nature Communications
Hierarchical micro/nanostructured silver hollow fiber boosts electroreduction of carbon dioxide
2-Jun-2022