Issue 6, 2019

Electrocatalytic reduction of low concentration CO2

Abstract

Utilization of low concentration CO2 contained in the exhaust gases from various industries and thermal power stations without the need for energy-consuming concentration processes should be an important technology for solving global warming and the shortage of fossil resources. Here we report the direct electrocatalytic reduction of low concentration CO2 by a Re(I)-complex catalyst that possesses CO2-capturing ability in the presence of triethanolamine. The reaction rate and faradaic efficiency of CO2 reduction were almost the same when using Ar gas containing 10% CO2 or when using pure CO2 gas, and the selectivity of CO formation was very high (98% at 10% CO2). At a concentration of 1% CO2, the Re(I) complex still behaved as a good electrocatalyst; 94% selectivity of CO formation and 85% faradaic efficiency were achieved, and the rate of CO formation was 67% compared to that when using pure CO2 gas. The electrocatalysis was due to the efficient insertion of CO2 into the Re(I)–O bond in fac-[Re(dmb)(CO)3{OC2H4N(C2H4OH)2}] (dmb = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine).

Graphical abstract: Electrocatalytic reduction of low concentration CO2

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
17 Sept. 2018
Accepted
11 Nov. 2018
First published
12 Nov. 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 1597-1606

Electrocatalytic reduction of low concentration CO2

H. Kumagai, T. Nishikawa, H. Koizumi, T. Yatsu, G. Sahara, Y. Yamazaki, Y. Tamaki and O. Ishitani, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 1597 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC04124E

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