Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 on Hollow Cubic Cu2O@Au Nanocomposites

Wei Tan; Bo Cao; Wenqiu Xiao; Min Zhang; Shoushan Wang; Shilei Xie; Dong Xie; Faliang Cheng; Qingquan Guo; Peng Liu

doi:10.1186/s11671-019-2892-3

Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂ on Hollow Cubic Cu₂O@Au Nanocomposites

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2019 Feb 21;14(1):63. doi: 10.1186/s11671-019-2892-3.

Authors

Wei Tan^{1

2}, Bo Cao¹, Wenqiu Xiao¹, Min Zhang¹, Shoushan Wang¹, Shilei Xie¹, Dong Xie¹, Faliang Cheng³, Qingquan Guo⁴, Peng Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Advanced Nanomaterials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, 523808, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
³ Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Advanced Nanomaterials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, 523808, China. chengfl@dgut.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. qqg55555@163.com.
⁵ Guangdong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Advanced Nanomaterials, School of Environment and Civil Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan, 523808, China. liupeng@dgut.edu.cn.

Abstract

Surfactant-free and low Au loading Cu₂O@Au and Au hollow cubes, based on electrodeposited Cu₂O cubes as sacrificed templates, were prepared by means of a galvanic replacement reaction (GRR). The electrocatalytical performance of the as-prepared catalysts towards carbon dioxide (CO₂) electrochemical reduction was evaluated. The experimental results show that Cu₂O@Au catalyst can convert CO₂ to carbon monoxide (CO) with a maximum Faradaic efficiency (FE) of ~ 30.1% at the potential of - 1.0 V (vs. RHE) and is about twice the FE of the other catalysts at the same potential. By comparison, such electrocatalytical enhancement is attributed to the metal-oxide interface in Cu₂O@Au.

Keywords: CO2 electrochemical reduction; Cuprous oxide; Hollow cubes; Metal-oxide interface.

Abstract

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