Nitrogen-containing polymers as a platform for CO2 electroreduction

Sathish Ponnurangam; Irina V Chernyshova; Ponisseril Somasundaran

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2016.09.002

Nitrogen-containing polymers as a platform for CO₂ electroreduction

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Jun:244:184-198. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2016.09.002. Epub 2016 Sep 23.

Authors

Sathish Ponnurangam¹, Irina V Chernyshova², Ponisseril Somasundaran³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
² Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
³ Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: ps24@columbia.edu.

PMID: 27817802
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2016.09.002

Abstract

Heterogeneous electroreduction of CO₂ has received considerable attention in the past decade. However, none of the earlier reviews has been dedicated to nitrogen-containing polymers (N-polymers) as an emerging platform for conversion of CO₂ to industrially useful chemicals. The term 'platform' is used here to underscore that the role of N-polymers is not only to serve as direct catalysts (through loaded metals) but also as co-catalysts/promoters and stabilizing agents. This review covers the current state, advantages, challenges, and prospects of the application of N-polymer-metal composites, also referred as polymer functionalized, coated, or modified electrodes, as well as functional hybrid materials, for the electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂. It briefly surveys the efficiencies of the N-polymer-metal electrodes already used for this application, methods of their fabrication, and proposed mechanisms of their catalytic activities.

Keywords: CO(2) reduction; Electrochemistry; Electron conducting polymers; Heterogeneous catalysis; Ion exchanging polymers; Metal nanoparticles; Metal-polymer complexes.

Publication types

Review