Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Journal of Physical Chemistry C
5 years ago

CO2 Reduction Mechanism on the Pb(111) Surface: Effect of Solvent and Cations

CO2 Reduction Mechanism on the Pb(111) Surface: Effect of Solvent and Cations
Qing Jiang, Wang Gao, Chen Xu Zhao, Yi Fan Bu
The Pb electrode is the most efficient and selective catalyst in reducing CO2 into HCOOH; however, the reaction mechanism remains elusive. Herein, we have investigated the mechanism of CO2 electroreduction to HCOOH on the Pb(111) surface using density functional theory calculations. We find that the effects of solvation and cations lead to different active intermediates for CO2 electroreduction (HCOO in gas-phase condition, both HCOO and COOH in solvent condition, and COOH in cation solution). In particular, the size and hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of the cations are found to significantly affect the reaction selectivity and efficiency of CO2 electroreduction at different overpotentials. These findings rationalize several experimental observations and contribute to a thorough understanding of CO2 electroreduction.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b04375

DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b04375

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.