Electrosynthesis of ethylene glycol from C<sub>1</sub> feedstocks in a flow electrolyzer.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 37516779.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-40296-9 and PMC identifier 10387065.
- 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
Ethylene glycol is a widely utilized commodity chemical, the production of which accounts for over 46 million tons of CO<sub>2</sub> emission annually. Here we report a paired electrocatalytic approach for ethylene glycol production from methanol. Carbon catalysts are effective in reducing formaldehyde into ethylene glycol with a 92% Faradaic efficiency, whereas Pt catalysts at the anode enable formaldehyde production through methanol partial oxidation with a 75% Faradaic efficiency. With a membrane-electrode assembly configuration, we show the feasibility of ethylene glycol electrosynthesis from methanol in a single electrolyzer. The electrolyzer operates a full cell voltage of 3.2 V at a current density of 100 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, with a 60% reduction in energy consumption. Further investigations, using operando flow electrolyzer mass spectroscopy, isotopic labeling, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, indicate that the desorption of a *CH<sub>2</sub>OH intermediate is the crucial step in determining the selectively towards ethylene glycol over methanol.