TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 in neat and water-containing imidazolium-based ionic liquids
AU - Papasizza, Marco
AU - Yang, Xiaohui
AU - Cheng, Jun
AU - Cuesta Ciscar, Angel
N1 - Acknowledgements
The support of the University of Aberdeen and the Leverhulme Trust (Grant RPG-2015-040) is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - Energetically efficient electrochemical reduction of CO2 would offer the possibility of storing electricity from renewables in the form of fuels and other valuable chemicals. It may also help mitigate the increase of atmospheric CO2 associated with global warming. However, the process suffers from a low energy efficiency due to the large overpotentials required. In aqueous electrolytes, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction also decreases the faradaic efficiency (which contributes to the low energy efficiency of the process). Recent claims of high faradaic efficiency and low overpotentials for the reduction of CO2 in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and RTIL-water mixtures have spurred considerable research. Here, we offer a critical review of those claims and of recent work aimed at understanding the details of this important reaction in these non-conventional electrolytes.
AB - Energetically efficient electrochemical reduction of CO2 would offer the possibility of storing electricity from renewables in the form of fuels and other valuable chemicals. It may also help mitigate the increase of atmospheric CO2 associated with global warming. However, the process suffers from a low energy efficiency due to the large overpotentials required. In aqueous electrolytes, the competing hydrogen evolution reaction also decreases the faradaic efficiency (which contributes to the low energy efficiency of the process). Recent claims of high faradaic efficiency and low overpotentials for the reduction of CO2 in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and RTIL-water mixtures have spurred considerable research. Here, we offer a critical review of those claims and of recent work aimed at understanding the details of this important reaction in these non-conventional electrolytes.
KW - CO reduction reaction
KW - Computational methods
KW - In situ spectroscopy
KW - Room-temperature ionic liquids
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088042258&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.coelec.2020.04.004
DO - 10.1016/j.coelec.2020.04.004
M3 - Article
VL - 23
SP - 80
EP - 88
JO - Current Opinion in Electrochemistry
JF - Current Opinion in Electrochemistry
SN - 2451-9103
ER -