Acetaldehyde as an Intermediate in the Electroreduction of Carbon Monoxide to Ethanol on Oxide-Derived Copper

Oxide‐derived copper (OD‐Cu) electrodes exhibit unprecedented CO reduction performance towards liquid fuels, producing ethanol and acetate with >50 % Faradaic efficiency at −0.3 V (vs. RHE). By using static headspace‐gas chromatography for liquid phase analysis, we identify acetaldehyde as a mino...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie (International ed.) 2016-01, Vol.55 (4), p.1450-1454
Main Authors: Bertheussen, Erlend, Verdaguer-Casadevall, Arnau, Ravasio, Davide, Montoya, Joseph H., Trimarco, Daniel B., Roy, Claudie, Meier, Sebastian, Wendland, Jürgen, Nørskov, Jens K., Stephens, Ifan E. L., Chorkendorff, Ib
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetaldehyde
analytical chemistry
Carbon
Carbon monoxide
catalysis
Chromatography
Communication
Communications
Copper
Efficiency
electrochemistry
Electrodes
Electrowinning
energy conversion
Ethanol
Fuels
Gas chromatography
Headspace
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Liquid fuels
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
materials science
NMR spectroscopy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Oxide‐derived copper (OD‐Cu) electrodes exhibit unprecedented CO reduction performance towards liquid fuels, producing ethanol and acetate with >50 % Faradaic efficiency at −0.3 V (vs. RHE). By using static headspace‐gas chromatography for liquid phase analysis, we identify acetaldehyde as a minor product and key intermediate in the electroreduction of CO to ethanol on OD‐Cu electrodes. Acetaldehyde is produced with a Faradaic efficiency of ≈5 % at −0.33 V (vs. RHE). We show that acetaldehyde forms at low steady‐state concentrations, and that free acetaldehyde is difficult to detect in alkaline solutions using NMR spectroscopy, requiring alternative methods for detection and quantification. Our results represent an important step towards understanding the CO reduction mechanism on OD‐Cu electrodes. An unappreciated intermediate: Acetaldehyde is identified as a product and key intermediate in CO reduction to ethanol on oxide‐derived copper. It is also shown that the detection of acetaldehyde with NMR spectroscopy in alkaline solution is challenging, requiring utilization of complementary techniques.
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.201508851