Molybdenum-Bismuth Bimetallic Chalcogenide Nanosheets for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol

Xiaofu Sun; Qinggong Zhu; Xinchen Kang; Huizhen Liu; Qingli Qian; Zhaofu Zhang; Buxing Han

doi:10.1002/anie.201603034

Molybdenum-Bismuth Bimetallic Chalcogenide Nanosheets for Highly Efficient Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Jun 1;55(23):6771-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201603034. Epub 2016 Apr 21.

Authors

Xiaofu Sun¹, Qinggong Zhu¹, Xinchen Kang¹, Huizhen Liu¹, Qingli Qian¹, Zhaofu Zhang¹, Buxing Han²

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
² Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. hanbx@iccas.ac.cn.

PMID: 27098284
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201603034

Abstract

Methanol is a very useful platform molecule and liquid fuel. Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to methanol is a promising route, which currently suffers from low efficiency and poor selectivity. Herein we report the first work to use a Mo-Bi bimetallic chalcogenide (BMC) as an electrocatalyst for CO2 reduction. By using the Mo-Bi BMC on carbon paper as the electrode and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate in MeCN as the electrolyte, the Faradaic efficiency of methanol could reach 71.2 % with a current density of 12.1 mA cm(-2) , which is much higher than the best result reported to date. The superior performance of the electrode resulted from the excellent synergistic effect of Mo and Bi for producing methanol. The reaction mechanism was proposed and the reason for the synergistic effect of Mo and Bi was discussed on the basis of some control experiments. This work opens a way to produce methanol efficiently by electrochemical reduction of CO2 .

Keywords: bimetallic chalcogenides; carbon dioxide; electrocatalysis; ionic liquids; nanosheets.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't