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Electrochemical reduction of Co2 on a polyaniline/Cu2o nanocomposite based electrode
S.K. Jeong, K.T. Park,
Published in Avestia Publishing
2015
Abstract
Anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere is claimed to be the major contributor to the greenhouse effect. The adverse impacts of global warming include rising sea levels, disappearance of some islands, extreme weather, and climate change. Therefore, reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere has become a critical issue. Various technologies have been developed to reduce CO2 emissions, such as chemical, thermochemical, photochemical, electrochemical, and biochemical methods. Of these technologies, electrochemical reduction is simple and can be performed under ambient conditions, and is of particular interest since it could both mitigate greenhouse gas emission and use CO2 as a carbon source to produce a variety of fuels such as formic acid and methanol. However, CO2 is an extremely stable molecule, so the conversion of CO2 to a useful fuel on the same scale as its current production is beyond our present scientific and technological abilities. In addition, the direct electrochemical reduction of CO2 needs at least 1~2V of overpotential. The theoretical potential for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid under standard conditions is-0.854V (SCE, sat. KCl). As a result of the high overpotential, a voltage of more than 4V is required to decrease the cathode potential of any common metal electrode to below 1.545V (SCE, sat. KCl) for effective CO2 reduction. Thus the development of new catalysts is crucial if we are to reduce this overpotential and create an efficient electrochemical process. This study tested the use of polyaniline matrix decorated with Cu2O nanoparticles as electrode for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to valuable fuels. A simple and novel electrochemical process was used for fabrication of the working electrode. For CO2 electroreduction H-type reactor was designed, and fabricated with Nafion membrane as a separator. The catalyst consisted of Cu2O nanoparticles deposited onto a polyaniline matrix with an electrochemical method; our results demonstrated the presence of Cu(II) species on the electrode surface. The developed catalyst was tested in the electrochemical reduction of CO2 by electrolysis at various potentials. The faradaic efficiency tor the formation of formic acid was 30.4% at a polarization potential of-0.3V vs. SCE(sat. KCl). This study offered a simple and effective way for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid with an appreciable faradaic efficiency. The synthesis of formic acid from readily available inexpensive raw materials via the electrochemical reduction of CO2 is expected to be useful in fuel production. © 2015, Avestia Publishing. All rights reserved.
About the journal
JournalData powered by TypesetProceedings of the World Congress on New Technologies
PublisherData powered by TypesetAvestia Publishing
ISSN23698128