A highly active nickel electrocatalyst shows excellent selectivity for CO2 reduction in acidic media

Neri, G ORCID: 0000-0003-1326-9327, Aldous, I, Walsh, J, Hardwick, L ORCID: 0000-0001-8796-685X and Cowan, A ORCID: 0000-0001-9032-3548 (2015) A highly active nickel electrocatalyst shows excellent selectivity for CO2 reduction in acidic media. Chemical Science, 7 (2). pp. 1521-1526.

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Abstract

The development of selective electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction in water offers a sustainable route to carbon based fuels and feedstocks. However, molecular catalysts are typically studied in non-aqueous solvents, in part to avoid competitive H2 evolution. [Ni(cyclam)]2+ (1) is one of the few known electrocatalysts that operate in water and 30 years after its report its activity remains a rarely surpassed benchmark. Here we report that [Ni(cyclam-CO2H)]2+ (cyclam-CO2H = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-6-carboxylic acid (2)) shows greatly enhanced activity versus1 for CO production. At pHs < pKa of the pendant carboxylic acid a large increase in catalytic activity occurs. Remarkably, despite the high proton concentration (pH 2), 2 maintains selectivity for CO2 reduction and is believed to be unique in operating selectively in such acidic aqueous solutions.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	?? QD ??
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2015 11:44
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2022 11:29
DOI:	10.1039/C5SC03225C
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2040640