Unveiling the CO2 electrocatalytic mechanism in ionic liquids via real-time AFM and voltammetry

Kaixuan Li; Shuai Liu; Ting Wang; Bingwei Mao; Jiawei Yan

doi:10.1039/D5CC01413A

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Unveiling the CO₂ electrocatalytic mechanism in ionic liquids via real-time AFM and voltammetry†

Kaixuan Li,

‡^ab Shuai Liu,

‡^a Ting Wang,^a Bingwei Mao

*^a and Jiawei Yan

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, P. R. China
E-mail: bwmao@xmu.edu.cn, jwyan@xmu.edu.cn

^b Beijing Key Laboratory of Ionic Liquids Clean Process, State Key Laboratory of Mesoscience and Engineering, CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

Abstract

In situ AFM has revealed CO₂-induced morphological changes of ionic liquid (IL) nanomembranes, which correlate with the interaction with CO₂. Voltammetry measurements on GC and Au electrodes suggest that in the ILs BMIPF₆, BMIDCA and BMINO₃, which have the same cation but different anions, the electrode material plays a dominant role in the electrochemical CO₂ reduction, while the ILs exhibit a synergistic effect on CO₂RR. The magnitude of the reaction current is primarily related to the viscosity of the ILs.

This article is part of the themed collection: Chemistry at the Forefront of the Sustainable Energy Transition

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC01413A
Article type: Communication
Submitted: 14 Mar 2025
Accepted: 23 Apr 2025
First published: 24 Apr 2025

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Chem. Commun., 2025, Advance Article

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Unveiling the CO₂ electrocatalytic mechanism in ionic liquids via real-time AFM and voltammetry

K. Li, S. Liu, T. Wang, B. Mao and J. Yan, Chem. Commun., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D5CC01413A

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