Selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 on compositionally variant bimetallic Cu–Zn electrocatalysts derived from scrap brass alloys

Abstract

The electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) into value-added fuels is a promising initiative to overcome the adverse effects of CO2 on climate change. Most electrocatalysts studied, however, overlook the harmful mining practices used to extract these catalysts in pursuit of achieving high-performance. Repurposing scrap metals to use as alternative electrocatalysts would thus hold high privilege even at the compromise of high performance. In this work, we demonstrated the repurposing of scrap brass alloys with different Zn content for the conversion of CO2 into carbon monoxide and formate. The scrap alloys were activated towards CO2RR via simple annealing in air and made more selective towards CO production through galvanic replacement with Ag. Upon galvanic replacement with Ag, the scrap brass-based electrocatalysts showed enhanced current density for CO production with better selectivity towards the formation of CO. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to elucidate the potential mechanism and selectivity of the scrap brass catalysts towards CO2RR. The d-band center in the different brass samples with different Zn content was elucidated.

Bridging Trans-Scale Electrode Engineering for Mass CO2 Electrolysis

“…Although it has a flexible capacity, e.g., it can also be used to do catalyst reconstructions with modified electrolyte compositions. Electrodes with recycled brass alloys with differing Zn contents were synthesized when performing CO 2 RR in gastight H-cell, which enables the transformation of CO 2 toward CO and formate . The scrap alloys were made more selective for CO generation through in situ galvanic replacement with Ag and activated toward the CO 2 RR by simple annealing in air.…”

Repurposing metal containing wastes and mass-produced materials as electrocatalysts for water electrolysis

“…This electrode exhibited high CO 2 electroreduction selectivity toward CO with 85% faradaic efficiency. Badaway and coworkers 163 showed that repurposing scrap brass alloys with different Zn content allowed for the conversion of CO 2 into carbon monoxide and formate. The selectivity towards CO formation was improved when the alloys were galvanically replaced with Ag.…”

Highly Durable Compositionally Variant Bifunctional Tetrametallic Ni–Co–Mn–Fe Phosphide Electrocatalysts Synthesized by a Facile Electrodeposition Method for High-Performance Overall Water Splitting

“…The electrocatalytic activity of the fabricated composites toward OER and HER in alkaline electrolyte (1 M KOH) was studied. In addition, density functional theory (DFT), a powerful tool that helps in understanding the properties of various materials and reaction mechanisms, − was employed to elucidate the observed electrocatalytic activity of the materials for water splitting. ,, Moreover, the effect of incorporating P into the MnFeCoNi catalyst was fully investigated using both experimental measurements and DFT calculations.…”