ELECTROCHEMICAL REDUCTION OF CO2

NEED
• The increasing CO2 concentration
• For enengy storage
• Halting climate change by reversing
the rise in emissions.
Reduction : chemical reaction that involves the gaining of electron
one of atoms involved in the reaction.

There are mainly three types of reduction process

1. Thermochemical
2. Electrochemical
3. Photochemical

Characteristics Advantages of electrochemical reduction

• The reaction can be conducted at ambient conditions
• Reaction rate can be controlled by external bias(overpotential)
• Reduces the separation cost due to formation of
products at different electrodes
• The thermodynamic potential to drive drive one electron CO2 reduction to CO2.- is -1.90V vs.SHE
• Proton assisted electron transfer processes in the range of -0.2to -0.6V vs.SHE
 Electrocatayst
• Electrocatalyst are a specific form of catalysts that function at electrode surfaces or may be the
electrode surface itself
 ELECTROCATALYSTS

1. NANOSTRUCTURED METALLIC CATALYSTS

• Contain a large portion of edge/low-coordinated sites which

may exhibit very different catalytic behaviour from tnat of flat surfaces
a. Nanoporous Ag catalyst(np-Ag)
• High activity of approx. 20mAcm-2 with over 90% selectivity at a overpotential
about 0.5V
• Specific activity of np-Ag was at least 20 times higher than that of the polycrystalline
Ag surface
• Ag nano-corals similar to np-Ag in morphology,fromelectrochemical reduction of AgCl layers
grown on the surface of polycrystalline Ag foil shown activity 32 times than polycrystalline Ag surface
 Non metallic catalysts

Molybdenum –terminated edge of Mo2S in an ionic liquid

• Commercial bulk of Mo2S in a 96mol% H2O + 4 mol%
EMIM—BF4 electrolyte authors achieved or better
activity

• Nitrogen incoperated carbon nanofiber catalyst in EMIM-BF4

Oxide- derived catalysts
 Design and enginnering of CO2 electrolysis process

• Choice of electrolyte
o aqueous 0.1-0.5 M NaHCO3 or KHCO3
• Non- aqueous
o 1-ethyl -3 methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate
o 1-butyl –3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate
o 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium
o trifluoromethanesulfonate

• Choice of co2 reduction product

Consideration of CO2 electrolysis process
 Future directions in CO2 electrolysis

1. New CO2 reduction electrocatalyst

• Catalyst beyond monometallics, such as bimetallic and non-metallic catalysts are
potential candidates for future
• Nanostructuring catalysts is another promising area for potential breakthroughs
• Highly nanostructured catalysts exhibit unique catalytic properties
2. Better understanding of CO2 reduction mechanism
• How co2 molecule is reduced on the electrocatalyst surface is still a mystery
3 Engineering CO2/electrode/electrolyte interface