Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 by Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbon/Carbon Nanotube Membranes: A Step Towards the Electrochemical CO2 Refinery

Hong Wang; Jia Jia; Pengfei Song; Qiang Wang; Debao Li; Shixiong Min; Chenxi Qian; Lu Wang; Young Feng Li; Chun Ma; Tom Wu; Jiayin Yuan; Markus Antonietti; Geoffrey A Ozin

doi:10.1002/anie.201703720

Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO₂ by Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbon/Carbon Nanotube Membranes: A Step Towards the Electrochemical CO₂ Refinery

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Jun 26;56(27):7847-7852. doi: 10.1002/anie.201703720. Epub 2017 Jun 1.

Authors

Hong Wang¹, Jia Jia¹, Pengfei Song², Qiang Wang³, Debao Li³, Shixiong Min⁴, Chenxi Qian¹, Lu Wang¹, Young Feng Li¹, Chun Ma⁵, Tom Wu⁵, Jiayin Yuan^{6

7}, Markus Antonietti⁶, Geoffrey A Ozin¹

Affiliations

¹ Materials Chemistry and Nanochemistry Research Group, Solar Fuels Cluster, Centre for Inorganic and Polymeric Nanomaterials, Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, and Electrical and Computing Engineering, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S3H6, Canada.
² College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan, 030001, China.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beifang University of Nationalities, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China.
⁵ Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of colloidal chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
⁷ Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science and Center for Advanced Materials Processing, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, 13699, USA.

PMID: 28499080
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201703720

Abstract

Herein we introduce a straightforward, low cost, scalable, and technologically relevant method to manufacture an all-carbon, electroactive, nitrogen-doped nanoporous-carbon/carbon-nanotube composite membrane, dubbed "HNCM/CNT". The membrane is demonstrated to function as a binder-free, high-performance gas diffusion electrode for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to formate. The Faradaic efficiency (FE) for the production of formate is 81 %. Furthermore, the robust structural and electrochemical properties of the membrane endow it with excellent long-term stability.

Keywords: CO2 reduction; carbon nanotubes; hierarchical carbon; membranes; nitrogen doping.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't