Carbon‐Confined Indium Oxides for Efficient Carbon Dioxide Reduction in a Solid‐State Electrolyte Flow Cell

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2022-05, Vol.61 (21), p.e202200552-n/a
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhitong, Zhou, Yansong, Liu, Dongyu, Qi, Ruijuan, Xia, Chenfeng, Li, Mingtao, You, Bo, Xia, Bao Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide Reduction; Continuous production; Corrosion-Resistant; Electrocatalyst; Electrocatalysts; Electrochemistry; Electrolysis; Electrolytes; Formic acid; Indium; Indium Oxide; Indium oxides; Reaction intermediates; Selectivity; Solid-State Electrolyte
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202200552

Developing robust electrocatalysts and advanced devices is important for electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction toward the generation of valuable chemicals. We present herein a carbon‐confined indium oxide electrocatalyst for stable and efficient CO2 reduction. The reductive corrosion of oxidative indium to the metallic state during electrolysis could be prevented by carbon protection, and the applied carbon layer also optimizes the reaction intermediate adsorption, which enables both high selectivity and activity for CO2 reduction. In a liquid‐phase flow cell, the formate selectivity exceeds 90 % in a wide potential window from −0.8 V to −1.3 V vs. RHE. The continuous production of ca. 0.12 M pure formic acid solution is further demonstrated at a current density of 30 mA cm−2 in a solid‐state electrolyte mediated reactor. This work provides significant concepts in the parallel development of electrocatalysts and devices for carbon‐neutral technologies. A robust carbon‐covered indium oxide electrocatalyst demonstrates an enhanced and stable activity for the direct production of formic acid in a solid‐state carbon dioxide electrolyzer.