Journal article
Effect of nanostructured carbon support on copper electrocatalytic activity toward CO2 electroreduction to hydrocarbon fuels
Catalysis today, Vol.288(C)
10 Nov 2016
Abstract
The effect of support on electrocatalytic activity of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) towards CO2 electroreduction to hydrocarbon fuels (CH4 and C2H4) is investigated for three types of nanostructured carbons: single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT), graphene (GP) and onion-like carbon (OLC). Cu/SWNT, Cu/GP and Cu/OLC composite catalysts are synthesized and characterized by X-Ray diffraction analysis, transmission electron microscopy and electrochemical surface area measurements. Electrocatalytic activities of the synthesized materials, as measured in an electrochemical cell connected to a gas chromatograph, are compared to that of Cu NPs supported on Vulcan carbon. All four catalysts demonstrate higher activity towards C2H4 generation vs CH4, with production of the latter mostly suppressed on Cu NPs supported on nanostructured substrates. Onset potentials for C2H4 vs CH4 generation are shifted positively by 200 mV for Cu/SWNT, Cu/GP, and Cu/OLC catalysts. The Cu/OLC catalyst is found to be superior to the other two nanostructured catalysts in terms of stability, activity and selectivity towards C2H4 generation. Its faradaic efficiency reached 60% at -1.8 V vs Ag/AgCl. The enhanced activity and stability of Cu/OLC catalyst can be attributed to the unique catalyst design, wherein a shell of OLC surrounds the Cu NPs such that the outer layer acts as a filter that protects the Cu surface from adsorption of undesirable species, enhances its electrocatalytic performance, and improves its viability in CO2 electroreduction reaction.
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- Title
- Effect of nanostructured carbon support on copper electrocatalytic activity toward CO2 electroreduction to hydrocarbon fuels
- Creators
- Olga Baturina - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Qin Lu - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Feng Xu - Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)Andrew Purdy - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Boris Dyatkin - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Xiahan Sang - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Raymond Unocic - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Todd Brintlinger - Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)Yury Gogotsi - Drexel UniversityOak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Details
- Catalysis today, Vol.288(C)
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Identifiers
- 991019186780404721