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CO2 electroreduction (CO2ER) by using renewable energy resources is a promising method to mitigate the CO2 level in the atmosphere as well as producing valuable chemicals. Local environment at the electrode-electrolyte interface plays a key role in CO2ER activity and selectivity along with its competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In addition to the catalyst and reactor design, electrolyte has also a significant impact on the interface. Herein, electrolyte additives were used to modify the local environment around the Cu catalyst during CO2ER. To this purpose, 10mM of ionic additives with bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([NTF2]-) and dicyanamide ([DCA]-) as anions and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([BMIM]+), potassium (K+), or sodium (Na+) as cations have been added to an aqueous potassium bicarbonate solution (0.1 M KHCO3). COMSOL Multiphysics was also used to calculate the local pH and CO2 concentration at electrode-electrolyte interface in different electrolytes. Results showed that the local environment modifications by the electrolyte additives altered the activity and selectivity of Cu in CO2ER. It was found that the CO2ER activity at -0.92 V was enhanced when using anion with high CO2 affinity and high hydrophobicity such as [NTF2]–. Among [NTF2]–-based additives, [BMIM][NTF2] had a higher faradaic efficiency (FE) for formate (38.7%) compared to K[NTF2] (23.2%) and Na[NTF2] (18.5%) at -0.92 V likely due to the presence of imidazolium cation which can further stabilize the intermediates on the surface and enhance CO2ER. Electrolytes containing [DCA]–-based additives with high hydrophilicity and low CO2 affinity had a very high HER selectivity (>90% FEH2) and low CO2ER selectivity regardless of the cation nature. This observation is attributed to the presence of hydrophilic [BMIM][DCA] in the vicinity of the catalyst which impacts the microenvironment around the catalyst. We observed that [DCA]– anions have a high affinity to adsorb on Cu catalysts as soon as the catalyst is submerged in the electrolyte. Although FTIR showed that [DCA]– anions desorb from the surface at negative potentials, it is likely that [DCA]– anions still remain in the proximity of the electrode, next to the adsorbed cations, impacting the transport of H2O and CO2, and altering the product selectivity. COMSOL calculations showed that the local pH is directly proportional to the H2 evolution activity. Also, hydrophilic salts such as those with the [DCA]– anion had a more alkaline local pH which leads to a lower CO2 concentration in the vicinity of the catalyst.
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The Influence of pH and Electrolyte Concentration on Fractional Protonation and CO 2 Reduction Activity in Polymer-Encapsulated Cobalt Phthalocyanine
Polymer-encapsulated cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) is a model system for studying how polymer-catalyst interactions in the electrocatalytic systems influence performance for the CO2 reduction reaction. In particular, understanding how bulk electrolyte and proton concentration influences polymer protonation, and in turn how the extent of polymer protonation influences catalytic activity and selectivity, is crucial to understanding polymer-catalyst composite materials. We report a study of the dependence of bulk pH and electrolyte concentration on the fractional protonation of poly-4-vinylpyridine and related polymers with both electrochemical and spectroscopic evidence. In addition, we show that the fractional protonation of the polymer is directly related to both the activity of the catalyst and the reaction selectivity for the CO2 reduction reaction over the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction. Of particular note is that the fractional protonation of the film is related to electrolyte concentration, which suggests that the transport of counterions plays an important role in regulating proton transport within the polymer film. These insights suggest that electrolyte concentration and pH play an important in the electrocatalytic performance for polymer-catalyst composite systems, and these influences should be considered in both experimental preparation and analysis.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1751791
- PAR ID:
- 10482985
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Chemical Society
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
- Volume:
- 127
- Issue:
- 29
- ISSN:
- 1932-7447
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 14041-14052
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Electrodes, Electrolytes, Evolution reactions, Polymers, Reaction mechanisms
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c01490
