Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid

Xu Lu, Dennis Y. C. Leung*, Huizhi Wang, Michael K. H. Leung, Jin Xuan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalLiterature reviewpeer-review

241 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This Review provides an overview of electrochemical techniques that are implemented in addressing gaseous CO2 towards the synthesis of a particular fuel (i.e. formic acid). The electrochemical reaction mechanism, as well as the advancement of electrodes, catalyst materials, and reactor designs are reviewed and discussed. To date, the electrolytic cell is the dominant reaction site and, based on which, various catalysts have been proposed and researched. In addition, relevant work regarding reactor design optimization for the purpose of alleviating restrictions of the current CO2 electrochemical reduction system are summarized, including low reactant-transfer rate, high reaction overpotential, and low product selectivity. The use of microfluidic techniques to build microscale electrochemical reactors is identified to be highly promising to largely increase the electrochemical performance. Finally, future challenges and opportunities of electrochemical reduction of CO2 are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)836-849
Number of pages14
JournalChemElectroChem
Volume1
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 May 2014

Keywords

  • carbon dioxide
  • electrochemical reduction
  • electrode catalyst
  • electrolytic cell
  • formic acid
  • GAS-DIFFUSION ELECTRODES
  • HIGH-PRESSURE CO2
  • SELECTIVE ELECTROCATALYTIC REDUCTION
  • LOW PROTON AVAILABILITY
  • IONIC LIQUID
  • CU ELECTRODE
  • FUEL-CELLS
  • PHOTOCHEMICAL REDUCTION
  • METAL-ELECTRODES
  • ROOM-TEMPERATURE

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