Electrochemical reduction of CO^sub 2^ at metal-free N-functionalized graphene oxide electrodes

Exploring metal-free catalysts for electroreduction of CO2 into value-added fuels has been a crucial challenge in nowadays society. Herein we report some metal-free electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to liquid products, such as ethanol and acetone. We develop functionalized graph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electrochimica acta 2018-08, Vol.282, p.694
Main Authors: Yuan, Jing, Zhi, Wen-Ya, Liu, Li, Yang, Man-Ping, Wang, Huan, Lu, Jia-Xing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetone
Alternative energy sources
Carbon dioxide
Catalysis
Catalysts
Chemical fuels
Chemical reduction
Derivatives
Design modifications
Electrocatalysts
Electrons
Electrowinning
Energy shortages
Ethanol
Fuels
Graphene
Organic chemistry
Pyridoxine
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Summary:Exploring metal-free catalysts for electroreduction of CO2 into value-added fuels has been a crucial challenge in nowadays society. Herein we report some metal-free electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to liquid products, such as ethanol and acetone. We develop functionalized graphene oxide (GO) surfaces with five pyridine derivatives: pyridoxine, 4-hydroxypyridine, 4-aminopyridine, 8-hydroxyquionline, and 5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline. Remarkably, pyridoxine modified on GO sheets with the pyridinic N content of 2.32% shows the optimum catalytic ability for electrochemical reduction of CO2, and the overall faradaic efficiency reaches up to 45.8%. Besides, other four pyridine derivatives functionalized GO exhibit various abilities for CO2 reduction to ethanol and acetone. The experimental results show that N-doping can alter the electronic properties of GO for enhancing the catalytic active for CO2 electroreduction, which is closely associated with the content of modified pyridinic N and the special structure of modified pyridine derivatives. Our work may provide inventive thought to design metal-free electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction to useful chemical fuels.
ISSN:0013-4686
1873-3859