Reduction in Nonaqueous Solutions at Metal Electrodes

In aprotic organic solvents, where there are no protons available to be involved in C02 reduction, the primary products are CO and oxalate, and all reductions must proceed through the C02 radical anion, C02, as discussed previously. The relevant reactions in aprotic media are listed below, as summarized by Halmann and Steinberg [42]. 

Eggins and McNeill compared the solvents of water, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile, propylene carbonate, and DMF electrolytes for C02 reduction at glassy carbon, Hg, Pt, Au, and Pb electrodes [78], The main products were CO and oxalate in the organic solvents, while metal electrodes (such as Pt) which absorb C02 showed a higher production for CO. In DMF, containing 0.1 M tetrabutyl ammonium perchlorate and 0.02 M C02 at a Hg electrode, Isse et al. produced oxalate and CO with faradaic efficiencies of 84% and 1.7%, respectively [79], Similarly, Ito et al. examined a survey of metals for C02 reduction in nonaqueous solution, and found that Hg, Tl, and Pb yielded primarily oxalate, while Cu, Zn, In, Sn, and Au gave CO [80, 81]. Kaiser and Heitz examined Hg and steel (Cr/Ni/Mo, 18 10 2%) electrodes to produce oxalate with 61% faradaic efficiency at 6 mA cm-2 [82]. For this, they examined the reduction of C02 at electrodes where C02 and reduction products do not readily adsorb. The production of oxalate was therefore explained by a high concentration of C02 radical anions, COi, close to the surface. Dimerization resulted in oxalate production rather than CO formation. 

When Desilvestro and Pons used in situ IR reflection spectroelectrochemistry to observe the reduction of C02 to oxalate at Pt electrodes in acetonitrile [83], two different forms of oxalate were observed. Similarly, Aylmer-Kelly et al. studied C02 reduction in acetonitrile and propylene carbonate at Pb electrodes [84], by using modulated specular electroreflectance spectroscopy. Subsequently, two radical intermediates were observed which they determined to be the C02 radical anion, C02, and the product of the radical anion and C02, the (C02)2 adduct (see Equations 11.9 and 11.10). Vassiliev et al. also studied the reduction of C02 in 

Haynes and Sawyer observed C02 reduction in DM SO at Au electrodes. In this case, CO was produced, with the mechanism proceeding through a disproportionation of two C02 radical anions to form CO and C032 [85], 

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