Electrosynthesis of a Defective Indium Selenide with 3D Structure on a Substrate for Tunable CO2 Electroreduction to Syngas

Dexin Yang; Qinggong Zhu; Xiaofu Sun; Chunjun Chen; Weiwei Guo; Guanying Yang; Buxing Han

doi:10.1002/anie.201914831

Electrosynthesis of a Defective Indium Selenide with 3D Structure on a Substrate for Tunable CO₂ Electroreduction to Syngas

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Feb 3;59(6):2354-2359. doi: 10.1002/anie.201914831. Epub 2019 Dec 19.

Authors

Dexin Yang^{1

2}, Qinggong Zhu^{1

3}, Xiaofu Sun¹, Chunjun Chen^{1

2}, Weiwei Guo^{1

2

3}, Guanying Yang^{1

3}, Buxing Han^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Physical Science Laboratory, Huairou National Comprehensive Science Center, No. 5 Yanqi East, Second Street, Beijing, 101400, China.

PMID: 31797503
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201914831

Abstract

Syngas (CO/H₂ ) is a feedstock for the production of a variety of valuable chemicals and liquid fuels, and CO₂ electrochemical reduction to syngas is very promising. However, the production of syngas with high efficiency is difficult. Herein, we show that defective indium selenide synthesized by an electrosynthesis method on carbon paper (γ-In₂ Se₃ /CP) is an extremely efficient electrocatalyst for this reaction. CO and H₂ were the only products and the CO/H₂ ratio could be tuned in a wide range by changing the applied potential or the composition of the electrolyte. In particular, using nanoflower-like γ-In₂ Se₃ /CP (F-γ-In₂ Se₃ /CP) as the electrode, the current density could be as high as 90.1 mA cm^-2 at a CO/H₂ ratio of 1:1. In addition, the Faradaic efficiency of CO could reach 96.5 % with a current density of 55.3 mA cm^-2 at a very low overpotential of 220 mV. The outstanding electrocatalytic performance of F-γ-In₂ Se₃ /CP can be attributed to its defect-rich 3D structure and good contact with the CP substrate.

Keywords: CO2 reduction; electrocatalysis; indium selenide; ionic liquid; syngas production.

Abstract

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