Efficient electrocatalytic conversion of carbon monoxide to propanol using fragmented copper

Yuanjie Pang, Jun Li, Ziyun Wang, Chih Shan Tan, Pei Lun Hsieh, Tao Tao Zhuang, Zhi Qin Liang, Chengqin Zou, Xue Wang, Phil De Luna, Jonathan P. Edwards, Yi Xu, Fengwang Li, Cao Thang Dinh, Miao Zhong, Yuanhao Lou, Dan Wu, Lih Juann Chen, Edward H. Sargent, David Sinton*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

236 Scopus citations

Abstract

The renewable-energy-powered electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into carbon-based fuels provides a means for the storage of renewable energy. We sought to convert carbon monoxide—an increasingly available and low-cost feedstock that could benefit from an energy-efficient upgrade in value—into n-propanol, an alcohol that can be directly used as engine fuel. Here we report that a catalyst consisting of highly fragmented copper structures can bring C 1 and C 2 binding sites together, and thereby promote further coupling of these intermediates into n-propanol. Using this strategy, we achieved an n-propanol selectivity of 20% Faradaic efficiency at a low potential of −0.45 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (ohmic corrected) with a full-cell energetic efficiency of 10.8%. We achieved a high reaction rate that corresponds to a partial current density of 8.5 mA cm –2 for n-propanol.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)251-258
Number of pages8
JournalNature Catalysis
Volume2
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2019

Funding

This work was supported by the Ontario Research Fund Research-Excellence Program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the CIFAR Bio-Inspired Solar Energy programme, and the University of Toronto Connaught Program. This research used synchrotron resources of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science by the Argonne National Laboratory, and was supported by the US DOE under contract no. DE-AC02-06CH11357, and the Canadian Light Source and its funding partners. The authors thank Z. Finfrock and M. J. Ward for technical support at the Sector 20BM beamline. D.S. acknowledges the NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship. J.L. acknowledges the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program. All DFT computations were performed on the IBM BlueGene/Q supercomputer with support from the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP). SOSCIP is funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency of Southern Ontario, the Province of Ontario, IBM Canada, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Mitacs and 15 Ontario academic member institutions.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • Bioengineering
  • Biochemistry
  • Process Chemistry and Technology

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