Electrochemical reconstruction of ZnO for selective reduction of CO2 to CO

By W. Luo, Qin Zhang, Jie Zhang, E. Moioli, K. Zhao, A. Züttel. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2020

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Abstract Electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to valuable chemicals is a highly promising route to close the carbon cycle. Herein, Zn catalysts derived from electrochemical reconstruction of ZnO materials are presented as efficient CO2-to-CO catalysts. We found that ZnO precursors with different morphologies (nanowires, nanoflowers, and nanoparticles) underwent deep electro-reconstruction and formed porous structures composed of hexagonal Zn crystals, regardless of their initial properties. Using ex-situ and in operando techniques, we revealed that metallic Zn is the active phase for CO2-to-CO. Because of the large surface area and stable crystal structure resulted from the reconstruction, ZnO-derived catalysts are highly selective and stable, showing >90% selectivity to CO and more than 18 h stability. The great potential of ZnO-derived catalysts for industrial applications was demonstrated in a flow reactor, where 91.6% Faradaic efficiency for CO at a current density of 200 mA cm−2 can be achieved at –0.62 V vs. RHE.

Subfields: Catalysis, Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5b5a817d9374c833523d806c1722455fc46dae7c