A mechanistic understanding of carbon corrosion in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) is critical to design durable catalyst layers. Uncontrolled startup and shutdown of PEFCs cause electrochemical oxidation of carbon,...

Acetic acid/acetate is an important precursor for many chemical manufacturing sectors, as well as a feedstock for the microbial synthesis of value-added biofuel and biomass products. As the downstream reaction in tandem with the carbon dioxide reduction reaction, carbon monoxide electrolysis has a unique advantage over direct carbon dioxide reduction, boosting the selectivity for multicarbon products. However, highly selective and high-current-throughput acetate and 1propanol production from CO electrolysis is yet to be explored. Herein, we present practical approaches for improving acetate and 1-propanol selectivity and yield from CO electrolysis using a commercial copper catalyst. Acetate showed a strong pH dependence with an optimum performance at 90% Faradaic efficiency and 128 mA cm −2 current density. In addition, 1-propanol showed a strong catalyst loading dependence, achieving 20% Faradaic efficiency under high-catalyst-loading conditions. In situ Raman and Multiphysics modeling further demonstrated the mechanism of the improvements.

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