CO2 bubbling into electrolytes
is widely used for the
electrochemical and photoelectrochemical reduction of CO2 as a carbon source. However, the effects of the CO2 bubbling
into the electrolytes have rarely been studied and are not clear.
The CO2 bubbling into different electrolytes such as KHCO3, K2CO3, KCl, and KOH was investigated
in this research. The concentrations of total dissolved carbon (TC),
H2CO3* (sum of dissolved CO2 and
H2CO3), HCO3
–,
and CO3
2– in different solutions before
and after bubbling with CO2 until saturation were evaluated.
The CO2 bubbling caused the pH of the electrolytes to decrease
and affected the existence forms of the dissolved carbonaceous species.
After bubbling with CO2, the major form of dissolved CO2 in KHCO3, K2CO3, and KOH
was HCO3
–, while H2CO3* was the dominant species in KCl, HCl, and H2O.
The ratio of H2CO3*/TC reduces as the concentration
of KHCO3 increases, which is possibly the reason for the
decrease of CO2 reduction by the solution of high KHCO3 concentration. Furthermore, CO2 partial pressure
increasing caused by the CO2 bubbling strongly enhanced
the concentration of CO2 in H2O, which is in
accordance with Henry’s law.
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