Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to produce formic acid coupled with oxidative conversion of biomass

Electrochemical reduction of CO_(2)(CO_(2)RR)has become a research hot spot in recent years in the context of carbon neutrality.HCOOH is one of the most promising products obtained by electrochemical reduction of CO_(2) due to its high energy value as estimated by market price per energy unit and wide application in chemical industry.Biomass is the most abundant renewable resource in the natural world.Coupling biomass oxidative conversion with CO_(2)RR driven by renewable electricity would well achieve carbon negativity.In this work,we comprehensively reviewed the current research progress on CO_(2)RR to produce HCOOH and coupled system for conversion of biomass and its derivatives to produce value-added products.Sn-and Bi-based electrocatalysts are discussed for CO_(2)RR with regards to the structure of the catalyst and reaction mechanisms.Electro-oxidation reactions of biomass derived sugars,alcohols,furan aldehydes and even polymeric components of lignocellulose were reviewed as alternatives to replace oxygen evolution reaction(OER)in the conventional electrolysis process.It was recommended that to further improve the efficiency of the coupled system,future work should be focused on the development of more efficient and stable catalysts,careful design of the electrolytic cells for improving the mass transfer and development of environment-friendly processes for recovering the formed formate and biomass oxidation products.

High-entropy Sm_(2)B_(2)O_(7)(B=Ti,Zr,Sn,Hf,Y,Yb,Nb,and Ta) oxides with highly disordered B-site cations for ultralow thermal conductivity

Materials with ultralow thermal conductivity and good thermal stability are of great interest in numerous applications such as energy storage and conversion devices,and thermal insulation components.In this work,a family of high-entropy Sm_(2)B_(2)O_(7)(B=Ti,Zr,Sn,Hf,Y,Yb,Nb,and Ta) oxides with highly disordered cations on the B-site has been synthesized by introducing large atomic-size mismatch,mass and charge disorder.Through tuning the composition,the high-entropy Sm_(2)B_(2)O_(7) oxides can be engineered from pyrochlore to fluorite structure,accompanied with an order-disorder transition.The pyrochlore Sm_(2)(Nb_(0.2)Sn_(0.2)Ti_(0.2)Y_(0.2)Zr_(0.2))_(2)O_(7) and fluorite Sm_(2)(Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2)Y_(0.2)Yb_(0.2)Zr_(0.2))_(2)O_(7) exhibit low thermal conductivities of 1.35 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1) and 1.23 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1),respectively,indicating their good thermal insulation.In addition,the high-entropy fluorite Sm_(2)(Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2)Y_(0.2)Yb_(0.2)Zr_(0.2))_(2)O_(7) also shows average thermal expansion coefficient of 10.2 × 10^(-6)℃^(-1) and high-temperature stability even after thermal exposure at 1600 °C in air for 30 h.These results indicate that the high-entropy Sm_(2)B_(2)O_(7)(B=Ti,Zr,Sn,Hf,Y,Yb,Nb,and Ta) can be promising candidates for thermal barrier coatings and thermally insulators.