High yield electrosynthesis of oxygenates from CO using a relay Cu-Ag co-catalyst system

• Published in: Nature communications 2024-05, Vol.15 (1), p.3892-3892, Article 3892
• Main Authors: Meng, Nannan, Wu, Zhitan, Huang, Yanmei, Zhang, Jie, Chen, Maoxin, Ma, Haibin, Li, Hongjiao, Xi, Shibo, Lin, Ming, Wu, Wenya, Han, Shuhe, Yu, Yifu, Yang, Quan-Hong, Zhang, Bin, Loh, Kian Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 140/133; 147/135; 147/143; 639/638/161/886; 639/638/77/885; Adsorption; Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Copper; Current density; Electrochemistry; Electrolytes; Ethylene; Fossil fuels; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogen evolution reactions; multidisciplinary; Raw materials; Relay systems; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Scientific imaging; Silver
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48083-w

As a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel-based manufacture of bulk oxygenates, electrochemical synthesis using CO and H 2 O as raw materials at ambient conditions offers immense appeal. However, the upscaling of the electrosynthesis of oxygenates encounters kinetic bottlenecks arising from the competing hydrogen evolution reaction with the selective production of ethylene. Herein, a catalytic relay system that can perform in tandem CO capture, activation, intermediate transfer and enrichment on a Cu-Ag composite catalyst is used for attaining high yield CO-to-oxygenates electrosynthesis at high current densities. The composite catalyst Cu/30Ag (molar ratio of Cu to Ag is 7:3) enables high efficiency CO-to-oxygenates conversion, attaining a maximum partial current density for oxygenates of 800 mA cm −2 at an applied current density of 1200 mA cm −2 , and with 67 % selectivity. The ability to finely control the production of ethylene and oxygenates highlights the principle of efficient catalyst design based on the relay mechanism. Using CO and H 2 O to electrosynthesize oxygenates is a possible low-carbon synthetic route. Here, the authors study the CO adsorption behavior on Ag catalysts and design a Cu-Ag nanostructure catalyst with a relay mechanism that enhances the electrosynthesis of oxygenates.