Room temperature CO<sub>2</sub> reduction to solid carbon species on liquid metals featuring atomically thin ceria interfaces.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30808867.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-08824-8 and PMC identifier 6391491.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Negative carbon emission technologies are critical for ensuring a future stable climate. However, the gaseous state of CO<sub>2</sub> does render the indefinite storage of this greenhouse gas challenging. Herein, we created a liquid metal electrocatalyst that contains metallic elemental cerium nanoparticles, which facilitates the electrochemical reduction of CO<sub>2</sub> to layered solid carbonaceous species, at a low onset potential of -310 mV vs CO<sub>2</sub>/C. We exploited the formation of a cerium oxide catalyst at the liquid metal/electrolyte interface, which together with cerium nanoparticles, promoted the room temperature reduction of CO<sub>2</sub>. Due to the inhibition of van der Waals adhesion at the liquid interface, the electrode was remarkably resistant to deactivation via coking caused by solid carbonaceous species. The as-produced solid carbonaceous materials could be utilised for the fabrication of high-performance capacitor electrodes. Overall, this liquid metal enabled electrocatalytic process at room temperature may result in a viable negative emission technology.