Nitride-Derived Copper Modified with Indium as a Selective and Highly Stable Catalyst for the Electroreduction of Carbon Dioxide.

ABSTRACT: The lack of efficient catalysts prevents the electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide from contributing to the pressing target of a carbon-neutral economy. Indium-modified copper nitride was identified as a stable electrocatalyst selective toward CO. In₂ O₃ /Cu₃ N showed a Faradaic efficiency of 80?% at 0.5?V overpotential for at least 50?h, in stark contrast to the very limited stability of the benchmark In₂ O₃ /Cu₂ O. Microfabricated systems allowed to correlate activity with highly stable interfaces in indium-modified copper nitride. In contrast, fast diffusion of indium resulted in rapidly evolving interfaces in the case of the system based on oxide-derived Cu. A metastable nitrogen species observed by spectroscopic means was proposed as the underlying cause leading to the unchanging interfaces. This work reveals the stabilizing properties of nitride-derived copper toward high-performance multicomponent catalysts.

SUBMITTER: Veenstra FLP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6772073 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature