The
electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) by means
of renewable energies is widely recognized as a promising
approach to establish a sustainable closed carbon cycle economy. However,
widespread application is hampered by the inherent difficulty in suppressing
the hydrogen evolution reaction and controlling the overall process
selectivity. Further critical parameters are the limited solubility
of CO2 in many electrolytes and its hindered mass transport
to the electrodes. Herein we report on a series of nanoparticle Cu
electrocatalysts on different carbon supports and their potential
to perform the electrochemical CO2 reduction under supercritical
conditions (scCO2). Herein, CO2 serves as the
reaction medium and reactant alike. By a detailed comparison to ambient
conditions we show that scCO2 conditions largely suppress
the undesirable hydrogen evolution and favor the production of formic
acid by the Cu electrodes. Furthermore, we show that scCO2 conditions significantly prevent Cu nanoparticle agglomeration during
electrocatalysis.
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