Phys.org May 6, 2024 In gas-fed flow electrolyzers equipped with gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs), the reduction of CO2 by Cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) selectively produces CO with minimal CH3OH formation. Researchers at the University of Michigan showed that the limited performance of the CO2–CO–CH3OH cascade reactions by CoPc was primarily due to the competitive binding between the CO2 and CO species. They determined that the effective equilibrium constant for CO2 binding was three times higher than that for CO binding. The stronger CO2 binding suppresses the CO-to-CH3OH reaction even at moderate local CO2 concentrations. CH3OH formation was observed when the local […]
Tag Archives: Carbon neutrality
New noble-metal-free electrocatalyst decreases the energy required to generate hydrogen gas from water
Phys.org October 19, 2023 Generating hydrogen gas from clean sources, such as the splitting of water molecules with electricity through electrolysis, is important to achieving future carbon neutrality, but current methods are inefficient and limit the commercial practicality of hydrogen-based technologies. Researchers in Malaysia created electrocatalyst WS2/N-rGO/CC on a carbon cloth that was bound to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a two-dimensional lattice semiconductor, combined with a very small amount of nitrogen to alter the properties of the reduced graphene oxide semiconductor. Hydrothermal reaction converted 2D WS2 into microscopic, three-dimensional nanoflowers that increased the surface area of the electrocatalyst to improve […]