CO2 photoelectroreduction with enhanced ethanol selectivity by high valence rhenium-doped copper oxide composite catalysts

Yueheng Lu; Huazhen Cao; Shenghang Xu; Wenyu Feng; Guangya Hou; Yiping Tang; Huibin Zhang; Guoqu Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.04.087

CO₂ photoelectroreduction with enhanced ethanol selectivity by high valence rhenium-doped copper oxide composite catalysts

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Oct:599:497-506. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.04.087. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Yueheng Lu¹, Huazhen Cao², Shenghang Xu¹, Wenyu Feng¹, Guangya Hou¹, Yiping Tang¹, Huibin Zhang¹, Guoqu Zheng³

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China. Electronic address: caohz@zjut.edu.cn.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China. Electronic address: zhenggq@zjut.edu.cn.

PMID: 33964695
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.04.087

Abstract

CuO supported catalyst with high valence rhenium doping were specially studied for photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to small molecular alcohols, which were synthesized by nitrate thermal decomposition method on anatase TiO₂ nanotube arrays (TiO₂-NTs). Photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that the high valence rhenium doping helps in improving the catalytic activity and selectivity of CuO supported catalysts. For the case of 6 wt% Re-doped CuO/TiO₂-NTs calcined at 723 K, the principal products are methanol and ethanol with yield up to 19.9 μmol and 7.5 μmol after 5 h photoelectrocatalysis at external potential of -0.4 V under simulated solar illumination. In contrast, the products catalyzed by undoped CuO/TiO₂-NTs are only methanol and formaldehyde. These results indicate that the high valence rhenium doping will promote the alcoholization process and benefit the CC coupling, leading to the selective conversion of CO₂ to ethanol. Furthermore, under suitable external potential (-0.5 V) the CO₂ conversion product is almost entirely composed of ethanol.

Keywords: Alcohols; CO(2) conversion; CuO supported catalyst; High valence rhenium; Photoelectrocatalysis.