Synthesis of electrodes for the electroreduction of

carbon dioxide
M.D. González-Hernández 1,2*, Eileen Yu2, A.P. de los Ríos1

1 School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle NE1 7RU, United Kingdom
2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100, Murcia, Spain

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 868 889 112; fax: +34 968 364 148. E-mail address: mariadelia.gonzalez@um.es

Introduction
The CO2 could be considered as an almost infinite source of carbon for chemical industry in the production of alcohols, aldehydes, hydrocarbons
or carboxylic acids. However, only 1% of entire atmospheric CO2 is used for chemical synthesis. Mainly this is due to its high chemical
inertness and the difficulties associated with its capture. Despite these, many scientists are working to convert greenhouse gasses into
commercially valuable compounds since this could make removal of excess CO2 from the atmosphere into a profitable industry.
For that reason the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to liquid fuels, chemical feedstock and valuable chemicals has attracted growing
interest in CO2 capture in the past several years. These electrochemical processes offer good reaction selectivity and reduced cost because of
possibility of direct control of electrode surface free energy through electrode potential.

For this research project we studied the synthesis of catalysts for CO2 electroreduction to methanol, all of them based on cuprous oxide (Cu2O)
modified surface because this compound has previously shown specific catalytic activity for this electrochemical reaction. The same project also
focused on developing a catalyst for CO2 electroreduction to formic acid. For this purpose a metallic complex was synthesized belonging to the
aminoftalocianes group which contain metals known to have good catalytic activity for CO2 electroreduction [2,3].

Materials and Methods

ELECTRODES TO ELECTROCHEMICAL EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
REDUCTION OF CO2
 CONVERSION TO METHANOL:  CONVERSION TO FORMIC ACID:  USED CELLS:
1 2 3 5 7 8
4

7Typical electrocatalytic cell used in

4Chemical formula
1Copper electrode covered with cuprous oxide film most of the experiments.
electrochemically obtained (2,9,16,23-tetraamine-phthalocyanine cobalt)
5Synthesised complex solid
8Electrocatalyticcell with Cu2O
2Stainlesssteel mesh electrode with electrodeposited 6 nanoparticles-impregnated carbon
cuprous oxide. paper electrode.
3Carbon paper electrode impregnated with cuprous
oxide nanoparticles.

6Glassy carbon covered with

2,9,16,23-tetraamine-phthalocyanine
polymeric film
Results and Discussion
All Synthesized electrodes have been studied by cyclic voltammetry in nitrogen and carbon dioxide saturated solutions.
Cuprous oxide electrodes had their surface analysed by SEM (scanning electron microscope).
Regarding to the stainless steel mesh electrode with electrodeposited cuprous oxide these are the results.
 SEM IMAGE OF THE ELECTRODE:  METHANOL YIELD:  FORMIC ACID YIELD:

0,0259 = 0,0006 ∗ 𝐶𝐻3 𝑂𝐻 ; 0,051 = 0,0006 ∗ 𝐶𝐻3 𝑂𝐻 ;

You can see the presence of the crystalline
𝐶𝐻3 𝑂𝐻 = 43,167 ppm 𝐻𝐶𝑂𝑂𝐻 = 3,643 ppm
structures of Cu2O agglomerates. The SEM
image shows catalytic presence on the The results from spectrophotometer show that the The results from ion
electrode surface. methanol yield was 43,167 ppm of CH3OH. chromatograph shows that the
formic acid yield was
Conclusions 3,643 ppm of HCOOH.
THE PRESENCE OF METHANOL WAS DETECTED IN ALL CUPROUS OXIDE ELECTRODES. THE NEXT TARGET IS TO INCREASE METHANOL AND
FORMIC ACID YIELD. FURTHERMORE, A FUTURE AIM IS TO USE MICROBIAL FUEL CELLS (MFCS) AS ENERGY SOURCES [1].
References
[1] Huazhang Zhao, Yan Zhang, Bin Zhao, Yingyue Chang and Zhenshan Li, Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide in an MFC−MEC System with a Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembly Carbon Nanotube/ Cobalt
Phthalocyanine Modified Electrode. Environmental Science and Tecnology 46 (2012) 5198−5204.
[2] M.Le, M.Ren, Z.Zhang, P.T. Sprunger, R.L. Kurtz and J.C. Flake. Gordon and Mary Cain, Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CH3OH at copper oxide surface. Journal of the electrochemical society, 158 (2011) 45-49.
[3] Tin-Yu Chang, Ru-Meng Liang, Pu-Wei Wu, Jing-Yu Chen, Yu-Chi Hsieh, Electrochemical reduction of CO2 by Cu2O catalysed carbon cothes. Materials Letters 63 (2009) 1001-1003.