Abstract
Coupling the cathodic electrochemical CO2 reduction (eCO2RR) with the anodic electrochemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural oxidation reaction (HMFOR) is an appealing approach to co-produce value-added chemicals and simultaneously lower the energy input, while the main challenge is to develop effective electrocatalysts for eCO2RR and HMFOR. Inspired by the techno-economic analysis, we herein report a coupling system for economical formate generation and biomass valorization by concurrent cathodic eCO2RR and anodic HMFOR. Single Cu atom doped Bi (Cu1Bi) and NiCo layer doubled hydroxides (NiCo LDHs) are used as the cathodic and anodic catalysts, respectively. Due to the accelerated water dissociation, the Cu1Bi cathode catalyst demonstrated remarkably high activity (jformate > 1 A cm−2) for formate conversion as well as robust stability (200 mA cm−2 for 45 h). Meanwhile, the NiCo LDH anode displays high activity for HMF electrooxidation to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid with a faradaic efficiency of over 95% at low potential. Consequently, the paired eCO2RR-HMFOR system reduces the electricity input for the eCO2RR-to-formate conversion to ∼3493 kW h per tonne of formate, corresponding to 22.9% in energy saving compared to the conventional eCO2RR (∼ 4528 kW h per tonne of formate). This study offers an appealing route for CO2 reduction and biomass valorization with low energy consumption.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5305-5314 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Energy and Environmental Science |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 30 Sept 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry
Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Discovery Grant (GRPIN-2016-05494) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (ZDSYS20220527171401003). As a part of the University of Alberta's Future Energy Systems research initiative, this research was made possible in part, thanks to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF-2015-00001). The authors acknowledge the VESPERS beamline of Canadian Light Source for the synchrotron characterization studies and Yang Chenyu from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for XPS measurements.
