Flexible and free-standing polyvinyl alcohol-reduced graphene oxide-Cu2O/CuO thin films for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Flexible and free-standing thin films were fabricated and employed directly as working electrodes for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 in 0.5 N KHCO 3 at 25 °C, in which, various sizes of Cu 2 O nanocubes (~ 27 ± 2, 37 ± 3, 62 ± 4 and 207 ± 3 nm) with different extent of surface oxidation (13,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied electrochemistry 2020-09, Vol.50 (9), p.979-991
Main Authors: Sheelam, Anjaiah, Muneeb, Adil, Talukdar, Biva, Ravindranath, Rini, Huang, Song-Jeng, Kuo, Chun-Hong, Sankar, Raman
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon dioxide
Chemical reduction
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Copper oxides
Electrochemical Processes
Electrochemistry
Gas chromatography
Graphene
Halides
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Mapping
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Oxidation
Physical Chemistry
Polyvinyl alcohol
Research Article
Sodium halides
Thin films
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:Flexible and free-standing thin films were fabricated and employed directly as working electrodes for the electrochemical reduction of CO 2 in 0.5 N KHCO 3 at 25 °C, in which, various sizes of Cu 2 O nanocubes (~ 27 ± 2, 37 ± 3, 62 ± 4 and 207 ± 3 nm) with different extent of surface oxidation (13, 20, 66, and 64% of Cu(II)) were reinforced on to polyvinyl alcohol/reduced graphene oxide matrix (PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO_X, where, X = without halide, Cl, Br and I). The size of Cu 2 O nanocubes and their surface oxidation were systematically altered by the addition of 1 mL of 10 mM sodium halides (NaCl, NaBr, and NaI) during the synthesis. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping displayed the specific adsorption of Cl − ions over the Cu 2 O surface, whereas Br − and I − ions did not show such behaviour. PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO_Cl) thin film exhibited a low overpotential of 20 mV for CO 2 reduction reaction and, ~ 60 and ~ 7 times higher current density at − 0.80 V vs. RHE compared to that of the PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO), PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO_Br) ≈ PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO_I), respectively. Gas chromatography and 1 H-NMR analyses confirmed methanol as the single liquid product, with a faradaic efficiency of 63% at − 0.75 V vs. RHE on PVA/rGO/(Cu 2 O/CuO_Cl) thin film. Graphic abstrat
ISSN:0021-891X
1572-8838
DOI:10.1007/s10800-020-01450-z