ChemSusChem 16/2019
“Intensified Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion in Pressure‐Tunable CO2‐Expanded Electrolytes”
Featuring Kevin Leonard, his PhD graduate Charles Shaughnessy, along with David Sconyers, Tyler Kerr, Jyun-Jin Lee, Bala Subramaniam, and James Blakemore
Abstract
The Cover Feature shows electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into more useful chemicals and fuels powered by renewable energy. This attracts significant attention as a strategy to avoid pollution and mitigate the threats posed by anthropogenic climate change. However, carbon dioxide gas displays limited solubility in most liquid phases at near-ambient pressures, giving rise to low conversion rates in traditional electrochemical cells. In this article, Blakemore, Leonard, Subramaniam, and coworkers introduce the concept of CO2- eXpanded Electrolytes (CXEs) and show that multimolar CO2 concentrations can be achieved in acetonitrile-containing supporting electrolyte at relatively mild CO2 pressures and ambient temperature. In CXE media, the rate of CO2 to CO conversion is enhanced by up to an order of magnitude compared to those attainable at near-ambient pressures, without loss of selectivity.
Citation
C. I. Shaughnessy, D. J. Sconyers, T. A. Kerr, H.-J. Lee, B. Subramaniam, K. C. Leonard, J. D. Blakemore. Intensified Electrocatalytic CO2 Conversion in Pressure‐Tunable CO2‐Expanded Electrolytes. ChemSusChem, 2019, 12, 3761