New insights into the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metallic copper surfaces

Abstract

We report new insights into the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ on a metallic copper surface, enabled by the development of an experimental methodology with unprecedented sensitivity for the identification and quantification of CO₂ electroreduction products. This involves a custom electrochemical cell designed to maximize product concentrations coupled to gas chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance for the identification and quantification of gas and liquid products, respectively. We studied copper across a range of potentials and observed a total of 16 different CO₂ reduction products, five of which are reported here for the first time, thus providing the most complete view of the reaction chemistry reported to date. Taking into account the chemical identities of the wide range of C₁–C₃ products generated and the potential-dependence of their turnover frequencies, mechanistic information is deduced. We discuss a scheme for the formation of multicarbon products involving enol-like surface intermediates as a possible pathway, accounting for the observed selectivity for eleven distinct C₂₊ oxygenated products including aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and carboxylic acids.