Ag x Cu y Ni z Trimetallic Alloy Catalysts for the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Benzyl Bromide in the Presence of Carbon Dioxide

Venkatachalam Rajagopal; Perumal Manivel; Noel Nesakumar; Murugavel Kathiresan; David Velayutham; Vembu Suryanarayanan

doi:10.1021/acsomega.8b02715

Ag _x Cu _y Ni _z Trimetallic Alloy Catalysts for the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Benzyl Bromide in the Presence of Carbon Dioxide

ACS Omega. 2018 Dec 12;3(12):17125-17134. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b02715. eCollection 2018 Dec 31.

Authors

Venkatachalam Rajagopal^{1

2}, Perumal Manivel¹, Noel Nesakumar³, Murugavel Kathiresan^{1

2}, David Velayutham^{1

2}, Vembu Suryanarayanan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Electroorganic Division, CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi 630003, India.
² Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Anusandhan Bhavan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi 110001, India.
³ School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur 613 401, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract

Different compositions of trimetallic alloy containing silver, copper, and nickel (Ag _x Cu _y Ni _z ) were electrodecorated in a protic ionic liquid medium on glassy carbon electrodes in order to investigate the suitability of the materials as catalysts for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Surface characteristic morphology obtained by scanning electron microscopy shows cauliflower crystallites for the deposit of Ag, whereas materials of Cu and Ni exhibit cubic grains and fine particles, respectively. Deposits of trimetallic alloy containing Ag, Cu, and Ni exhibit the mixture of the three characteristic features. Further, trimetallic alloy containing a large amount of Ag provides high crystallinity, whereas predominance of Cu as well as Ni results in porous structures, as revealed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Atomic absorption spectroscopy () was used to determine the compositions of different alloy materials. The suitability of nanomaterials as cathodes for electroreduction of benzyl bromide in CO₂ containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium tetrafluoroborate (DMF/TBABF₄)/N,N-dimethylformamide medium was explored. The linear sweep voltammogram reveals that Ag₄₆Cu₄₀Ni₁₄ shows higher cathodic peak current and lower cathodic peak potential than those of other deposited nanomaterials as well as alloys, indicating its higher catalytic activity for such an electroreduction process, whereas potentiostatic electrolysis confirms the abovementioned results.