Issue 5, 2016

Amino acid modified copper electrodes for the enhanced selective electroreduction of carbon dioxide towards hydrocarbons

Abstract

Electroreduction of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons has been proposed as a promising way to utilize CO2 and maintain carbon balance in the environment. Copper (Cu) is an effective electrocatalyst for such a purpose. However, the overall selectivity towards hydrocarbons on Cu-based electrodes is still very limited. In this work, we develop a general amino acid modification approach on Cu electrodes for the selective electroreduction of CO2 towards hydrocarbons. A remarkable enhancement in hydrocarbon generation is achieved on these modified copper electrodes, regardless of the morphology of the Cu electrodes. A density functional theory calculation reveals that the key intermediate CHO* is stabilized by interacting with –NH3+ of the adsorbed zwitterionic glycine. Our results suggest that amino acids and their derivatives are promising modifiers in improving the selectivity of hydrocarbons in CO2 electroreduction.

Graphical abstract: Amino acid modified copper electrodes for the enhanced selective electroreduction of carbon dioxide towards hydrocarbons

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Dec 2015
Accepted
18 Jan 2016
First published
21 Jan 2016

Energy Environ. Sci., 2016,9, 1687-1695

Author version available

Amino acid modified copper electrodes for the enhanced selective electroreduction of carbon dioxide towards hydrocarbons

M. S. Xie, B. Y. Xia, Y. Li, Y. Yan, Y. Yang, Q. Sun, S. H. Chan, A. Fisher and X. Wang, Energy Environ. Sci., 2016, 9, 1687 DOI: 10.1039/C5EE03694A

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