Boosting CO2 Electroreduction on N, P‐Co‐doped Carbon Aerogels. Issue 27 (30th April 2020) - Chen, Chunjun
Abstract: Electroreduction of CO2 to CO powered by renewable electricity is a possible alternative to synthesizing CO from fossil fuel. However, it is very hard to achieve high current density at high faradaic efficiency (FE). Here, the first use of N, P‐co‐doped carbon aerogels (NPCA) to boost CO2 reduction to CO is presented. The FE of CO could reach 99.1 % with a partial current density of −143.6 mA cm −2, which is one of the highest current densities to date. NPCA has higher electrochemical active area and overall electronic conductivity than that of N‐ or P‐doped carbon aerogels, which favors electron transfer from CO2 to its radical anion or other key intermediates. By control experiments and theoretical calculations, it is found that the pyridinic N was very active for CO2 reduction to CO, and co‐doping of P with N hinder the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) significantly, and thus the both current density and FE are very high. Abstract : N, P‐co‐doped carbon aerogels (NPCA), easily prepared by the gelatinization of starch, can boost CO2 reduction to CO with a very high current density. The maximum CO faradaic efficiency was 99.1 % with a partial current density of −143.6 mA cm −2 at a low overpotential. The pyridinic N is the dominant active site for CO2 reduction, and co‐doping of N and P hinders the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) significantly.