Carbon dioxide reduction electrode

A v ety of reactions are catalyzed by electrochemically generated Ni(0) (62). Electrochemical reduction of Ni(bipy)3Br2 affords a reagent that couples acid chlorides and alkyl or aryl halides to form unsymmetrical ketones (63). Symmetrical ketones are formed from alkyl halides and carbon dioxide (64). Reductive electrochemical carboxylation of terminal alkynes, enynes and diynes can be accomplished with 10% Ni(bipy)3(Bp4)2 in DMF (65-68). Terminal allies lead selectively to a-substituted acrylic acids. Electrocatalytic hydrogenation on hydrogen-active electrodes has been reviewed (69). Radical cyclizations of vinyl, alkyl and aryl radicals can be carried out by indirect electrochemical reduction with a Ni(II) complex as a mediator (70). 

Mahmood, M.N., D. Masheder, and C.J. Harty (1987). Use of gas-diffusion electrodes for high-rate electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. II. Reduction at metal phthalocyanine-impregnated electrodes. J. Appl. Electrochem. 17(6), 1223-1227. 

The reduction of carbon dioxide is another of the basic electrochemical reactions that has been studied at modified electrodes. The reduction at Co or Ni phthalocyanine in acidic solution yields formic acid or carbon monoxide A very high selectiv-... 

Taniguchi I, Aurian-Blajeni B, Bockris O MJ (1984) The reduction of carbon dioxide at illuminated p-type semiconductor electrodes in nonaqueous media. Electrochim Acta 29 923-932... 

Of great interest and importance are studies on carbon dioxide reduction on copper electrodes, performed primarily by Japanese scientists. Under certain conditions, formation of methane and ethylene with high faradaic yields (up to 90%) was observed. The efficiency and selectivity of this reaction depends very much on the purity and the state of the surface of the copper electrode. For this reason, many of the published results are contradictory. 

The mechanism of carbon dioxide reduction in aqueous and nonaqueous solutions was investigated by several authors. It is now generally accepted that the reduction of carbon dioxide to formate ions is a multistep reaction with the intermediate formation of free radicals CO2 and HCO2 either in the solution or adsorbed on the electrode ... 

Cathodic reduction is the most promising approach to the removal of carbon dioxide from a closed atmosphere. Methods developed so far provide for electrode materials, electrolytes, and electrolysis conditions where CO2 can be reduced to hquid organic products of low molecular weight such as formic acid. More complex systems are required to regenerate foodstuffs from the rejects of human vital activities during... 

Great promise exists in the use of graphitic carbons in the electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide [reaction (15.21)] and in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to various organic products. Considering the diversity in structures and surface forms of carbonaceous materials, it is difficult to formulate generalizations as to the influence of their chemical and electron structure on the kinetics and mechanism of electrochemical reactions occurring at carbon electrodes. 

A little later, Russell et al.19 tried to obtain methanol from carbon dioxide by electrolysis. Reduction of carbon dioxide to formate ion took place in a neutral electrolyte at a mercury electrode. On the other hand, formic acid was reduced to methanol either in a perchloric acid solution at a lead electrode or in a buffered formic acid solution at a tin electrode. The largest faradaic efficiency for methanol formation from formic acid was ca. 12%, with poor reproducibility, after passing 1900 C in the perchloric acid solution at Pb in a very narrow potential region (-0.9 to -1.0 V versus SCE). In the buffered formic acid solution (0.25 M HCOOH + 0.1 M... 

Mechanisms of carbon dioxide reduction in both aqueous and nonaqueous solutions have been studied mainly at metal electrodes. 

Reduction of Carbon Dioxide at Semiconductor Electrodes in the Dark... 

Semiconductor electrodes seem to be attractive and promising materials for carbon dioxide reduction to highly reduced products such as methanol and methane, in contrast to many metal electrodes at which formic acid or CO is the major reduction product. This potential utility of semiconductor materials is due to their band structure (especially the conduction band level, where multielectron transfer may be achieved)76 and chemical properties (e.g., C02 is well known to adsorb onto metal oxides and/ or noble metal-doped metal oxides to become more active states77-81). Recently, several reports dealing with C02 reduction at n-type semiconductors in the dark have appeared, as described below. 

Reduction of Carbon Dioxide at Illuminated p-Type Semiconductor Electrodes... 

Halmann reported in 1978 the first example of the reduction of carbon dioxide at a p-GaP electrode in an aqueous solution (0.05 M phosphate buffer, pH 6.8).95 At -1.0 V versus SCE, the initial photocurrent under C02 was 6 mA/ cm2, decreasing to 1 mA/cm2 after 24 h, while the dark current was 0.1 mA/cm2. In contrast to the electrochemical reduction of C02 on metal electrodes, formic acid, which is a main product at metal electrodes, was further reduced to formaldehyde and methanol at an illuminated p-GaP. Analysis of the solution after photoassisted electrolysis for 18 and 90 h showed that the products were 1.2 x 10-2 and 5 x 10 2 M formic acid, 3.2 x 10 4 and 2.8 x 10-4 M formaldehyde, and 1.1 x 10-4 and 8.1xlO 4M methanol, respectively. The maximum optical conversion efficiency calculated from Eq. (23) for production of formaldehyde and methanol (assuming 100% current efficiency) was 5.6 and 3.6%, respectively, where the bias voltage against a carbon anode was -0.8 to -0.9 V and 365-nm monochromatic light was used. In a later publication,4 these values were given as ca. 1% or less, where actual current efficiencies were taken into account [Eq. (24)]. 

Recently, results of careful experiments were reported by Ito et a/.101 They claimed that formic acid, formaldehyde, and methanol, which had been previously reported as photoelectrochemical reduction products of carbon dioxide, were observed also by photolysis of cell materials, such as electrolytes, including 15-crown-5 ether, and epoxy resin, which has often been used as the molding material of semiconductor electrodes in aqueous solutions. Previously reported reduction products were obtained also under nitrogen with (Table 4) and without (Table 5) a p-GaP photocathode under illumination. These precise experiments under improved conditions, where no photolytic products were observed, gave the result that the main reduction product of carbon dioxide at a p-GaP photocathode in aqueous electrolytes was formic acid. Thus, many kinds of products reported in previous papers83,97,100 were suggested to be due to photolysis of cell materials. 

Reduction of carbon dioxide takes place at various metal electrodes. The main products are formic acid in aqueous solutions and oxalate, CO, and formic acid in nonaqueous solutions. An indium electrode is the most potential saving for C02 reduction. Due to the difference in optimum conditions between those for C02 reduction to formic acid and those for formic acid reduction to further reduced products, direct reduction of C02 in aqueous solutions without a catalyst to highly reduced products seems to be difficult at metal electrodes. However, catalytic effects of metal electrodes themselves have recently become more clear for example, on Cu, methane was detected, while on Ag and Au, CO was produced effectively in aqueous solutions. Furthermore, at a Mo electrode, methanol was obtained. The power efficiency is, however, still low at any electrode. 

Figure 3.42 Chronopotentiograms for reduction of carbon dioxide in dimethyl sulphoxide at a mercury electrode. Percentage by volume of C02 in N2 to saturate solution is noted on the curves. From Haynes and Sawyer (1967). Copyright 1967, American Chemical Society. Reprinted...

In contrast to a variety of oxidizable compounds, only a few examples for the detection of strong oxidants with transition metal hexacyanoferrates were shown. Among them, hydrogen peroxide is discussed in the following section. Except for H202, the reduction of carbon dioxide [91] and persulfate [92] by Prussian blue-modified electrode was shown. The detection of the latter is important in cosmetics. It should be noted that the reduction of Prussian blue to Prussian white occurs at the lowest redox potential as can be found in transition metal hexacyanoferrates. 

Thus the reduction of methanol is not believed to proceed via a mechanism similar to that for carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide. Copper electrodes also reduce carbon monoxide to methane. 

Ru electrodes were prepared as previously described by plating Ru metal onto spectroscopic carbon rods, except for the electrode used for Auger analysis (before and after carbon dioxide reduction) which was plated on Ti (2.). Cu electrodes were prepared from Cu foil as previously described (Kim, J. J. Summers, D. P. Frese, K. W., Jr. J. Electroanal- Chem. in press.). Each entry in the tables and figures was obtained on different days with the electrode kept in ordinary laboratory air overnight between runs. 

Carbon Monoxide Reduction at Ruthenium. Carbon monoxide can be reduced to both methane and methanol under conditions nearly identical to those for the reduction of carbon dioxide (Table I, All experiments, using one electrode, are presented in the order they were performed). 

When the temperature is raised to 75 °C a decrease in the rate of carbon monoxide reduction is observed with a parallel decrease in the faradaic efficiency. When the electrode is used a second time for carbon monoxide reduction at 60 °C, after it was used for electrolysis at 75 °C, (last entry in Table I) it shows considerable deactivation. The reduction of carbon dioxide also shows a similar... 

Methanol Reduction at Ruthenium. The reduction of methanol to methane does occur as shown by the data in Table III. The data for each electrode are presented in the order that they were collected. Rates can be higher for methanol reduction compared to carbon dioxide reduction though faradaic efficiencies are lower. Unlike carbon dioxide reduction, the rate of methane formation is extremely... 

Figure 1. Auger electron spectrum of the surface of a Ru electrode before and after deactivation by reduction of carbon dioxide at higher temperatures ( 90 °C in 0.2 M Na2SC>4 at pH 4 and -0.545 V vs SCE).

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