Aqueous electrocatalytic CO2 reduction using metal complexes dispersed in polymer ion gels

Shunsuke Sato; Brendon J McNicholas; Robert H Grubbs

doi:10.1039/d0cc00791a

Aqueous electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction using metal complexes dispersed in polymer ion gels

Chem Commun (Camb). 2020 Apr 25;56(32):4440-4443. doi: 10.1039/d0cc00791a. Epub 2020 Mar 20.

Authors

Shunsuke Sato¹, Brendon J McNicholas, Robert H Grubbs

Affiliation

¹ The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Laboratory of Chemical Synthesis, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. rhg@caltech.edu.

PMID: 32195491
DOI: 10.1039/d0cc00791a

Abstract

We use fac-[Re(bpy)(CO)₃Cl] ([Re-Cl]) dispersed in polymer ion gel (PIG) ([Re]-PIG) to carry out electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction in water. Electrolysis at -0.68 V vs. RHE in a CO₂-saturated KOH and K₂CO₃ solution produces CO with over 90% Faradaic efficiency. The PIG electrode is readily combined with water oxidation catalysts to generate a full electrochemical cell. Additionally, we provide evidence that the PIG electrode can be implemented with other molecular catalysts.