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.

Photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO_2 into formic acid using WO_(3-x)/TiO_2 film as novel photoanode

A novel WO3-x/TiO2 film as photoanode was synthesized for photoelectrocatalytic（PEC） reduction of CO2 into formic acid（HCOOH）. The films prepared by doctor blade method were characterized with X-ray diffractometer（XRD）, scanning electron microscope（SEM） and transmission electron microscope（TEM）. The existence of oxygen vacancies in the WO3-x was confirmed with an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）, and the accurate oxygen index was determined by a modified potentiometric titrimetry method. After 3h of photoelectrocatalytic reduction, the formic acid yield of the WO3-x/TiO2 film is 872 nmol/cm^2, which is 1.83 times that of the WO3/TiO2 film. The results of PEC performance demonstrate that the introduction of WO3-x nanoparticles can improve the charge transfer performance so as to enhance the performance of PEC reduction of CO2 into formic acid.

A Revisit to the Role of Bridge-adsorbed Formate in the Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Formic Acid at Pt Electrodes

The mechanism and kinetics of electrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid at Pt electrodes is discussed in detail based on previous electrochemical in-situ ATR-FTIRS data [Langmuir 22, 10399 （2006）and Angewa. Chem. Int. Ed. 50, 1159 （2011）]. A kinetic model with formic acid adsorption （and probably the simultaneous C-H bond activation） as the rate determining step, which contributes to the majority of reaction current for formic acid oxi- dation, was proposed for the direct pathway. The model simulates well the IR spectroscopic results obtained under conditions where the poisoning effect of carbon monoxide （CO） is negligible and formic acid concentration is below 0.1 mol/L. The kinetic simulation predicts that in the direct pathway formic acid oxidation probably only needs one Pt atom as active site, formate is the site blocking species instead of being the active intermediate. We review in detail the conclusion that formate pathway （with either 1st or 2nd order reaction kinetics） is the direct pathway, possible origins for the discrepancies are pointed out.

Hydrothermal synthesis of titanium-supported nanoporous palladium-copper electrocatalysts for formic acid oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction

Nanoporous Pd and binary Pd-Cu particles were prepared by a hydrothermal method using ethylene glycol as a reduction agent and they were directly immobilized on Ti substrates named as Ti-supported Pd-based catalysts. Their electrocatalytic activity for formic acid oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） in alkaline media was examined by voltammetric techniques. Among the as-prepared catalysts, nanoPdslCu19/Ti catalyst presents the highest current density of 39.8 mA/cm2 at -0.5 V or 66.4 mA/cm2 at -0.3 V for formic acid oxidation. The onset potential of ORR on the nanoPdslCU19/Ti catalyst presents an about 70 mV positive shift compared to that on the nanoPd/Ti, and the current density of ORR at -0.3 V is 2.12 mA/cm2, which is 3.7 times larger than that on the nanoPd/Ti.

Pd micro-nanoparticles electrodeposited on graphene/polyimide membrane for electrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid

A novel Pd electrocatalyst with flowerlike micro-nanostructures was synthesized by electrochemical deposition on a flexible graphene/polyimide（Gr/PI） composite membrane and characterized by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,X-ray diffraction（XRD）.The Pd micro-nanoparticles were prepared on a COOH-CNTs/PI membrane as a comparative sample.The XRD and SEM investigations for Pd electrodeposition demonstrate that the particle size of Gr/PI composite membrane is smaller than that of COOH-CNTs/PI membrane,while the uniform and dense distribution of Pd micro-nanoparticles on the Gr/PI composite membrane is greater than that on the COOH-CNTs/PI membrane.The electrocatalytic properties of Pd/Gr/PI and Pd/COOH-CNTs/PI catalysts for the oxidation of formic acid were investigated by cyclic voltammetry（CV） and chronoamperometry（CA）.It is found that the electrocatalytic activity and stability of Pd/Gr/PI are superior to those of Pd/COOH-CNTs/PI catalyst.This is because smaller metal particles and higher dense distribution desirably provide abundant catalytic sites and mean higher catalytic activity.Therefore,the Pd/Gr/PI catalyst has better catalytic performance for formic acid oxidation than the Pd/COOH-CNTs/PI catalyst.

Role of Bridge-bonded Formate in Formic Acid Dehydration to CO at Pt Electrode： Electrochemial in-situ Infrared Spectroscopic Study

Formic acid （HCOOH） decomposition at Pt film electrode has been studied by electrochem- ical in situ FTIR spectroscopy under attenuated-total-reflection configuration, in order to clarify whether bridge-bonded formate （HCOOD） is the reactive intermediate for COad for-mation from HCOOH molecules. When switching from HCOOH-free solution to HCOOH- containing solution at constant potential （E=0.4 V vs. RHE）, we found that immediately upon solution switch COad formation rate is the highest, while surface coverage of formate is zero, then after COad formation rate decreases, while formate coverage reaches a steady state coverage quickly within ca. 1 s. Potential step experiment from E=0.75 V to 0.35 V, reveals that formate band intensity drops immediately right after the potential step, while the COad signal develops slowly with time. Both facts indicate that formate is not the reactive intermediate for formic acid dehydration to CO.

Preparation of Ultrafine and High Dispersion Pd/C Catalyst and Its Electrocatalytic Performance for Formic Acid Oxidation

A carbon supported Pd（Pd/C） catalyst used as the anodic catalyst in the direct formic acid fuel cells（DFAFC） was prepared via the improved complex reduction method with sodium ethylenediamine tetracetate（EDTA） as stabilizer and complexing agent. This method is very simple. The average size of the Pd particles in the Pd/C catalyst prepared with the improved complex reduction method is as small as about 2.1 nm and the Pd particles in the Pd/C catalyst possess an excellent uniformity. The Pd/C catalyst shows a high electrocatalytic activity and stability for the formic acid oxidation.

Rough-surfaced bimetallic copper–palladium alloy multicubes as highly bifunctional electrocatalysts for formic acid oxidation and oxygen reduction

Engineering the morphology of nanomaterials and modifying their electronic structure are effective ways to improve their performance in electrocatalysis. Through combining the co-reduction of Pd2+ and Cu2+ precursors with a digestive ripening process in oleylamine, we report the synthesis of copper-palladium(Cu-Pd) alloy multicubes with rough surfaces. Benefiting from their alloy and unique rough-surfaced structure,which provides ample edge/corner and step atoms as well as the electronic coupling between Cu and Pd leading to the lower of d-band center, the rough-surfaced Cu-Pd alloy multicubes show much better electrocatalytic performance not only for formic acid oxidation but also for oxygen reduction in comparison with those of spherical Cu-Pd alloy nanoparticles and commercial Pd/C catalyst. In contrast, we confirm that the rough-surfaced Cu-Pd alloy multicubes only exhibit very low Faradaic efficiency(34.3%) for electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide(CO2) to carbon monoxide(CO) due to the presence of strong competing hydrogen evolution reaction, which results in their very poor selectivity for the reduction of CO2 to CO. The findings in this study not only offer a promising strategy to produce highly effective electrocatalysts for direct formic acid fuel cells, but also enlighten the ideas to design efficient electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction.

Surface interaction between Pd and nitrogen derived from hyperbranched polyamide towards highly effective formic acid dehydrogenation

Hydrogen production from formic acid decomposition(FAD)is a promising means of hydrogen energy storage and utilization in fuel cells.Development of efficient catalysts for dehydrogenation of formic acid is a challenging topic.The surface chemical and electronic structure of the active catalysis components is important in formic acid decomposition at room-temperature.Here,the pyrdinic-nitrogen doped catalysts from hyperbranched polyamide were prepared via in situ polymerization reaction process by using activated carbon as a support.Because of the introduction of the polymer,the particles of the catalysts were stabilized,and the average particle diameter was only 1.64 nm.Under mild conditions,the catalysts activities were evaluated for FAD.The optimized Pd-N30/C catalyst exhibited high performance achieving almost full conversion,with a turnover frequency of 3481 h^-1 at 30℃.

MoS2/Zn3In2S6 composite photocatalysts for enhancement of visible light-driven hydrogen production from formic acid

Enhancing the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers is propitious for the promotion of photocatalytic hydrogen production from formic acid decomposition.Herein,MoS2/Zn3In2S6(MoS2/ZIS6)composite photocatalysts containing varying mass percentages of MoS2 were obtained by a straightforward synthetic method.The results confirmed that MoS2,as a cocatalyst,markedly promoted the photogenerated charge separation efficiency and visible light-driven hydrogen production activity of ZIS6(λ>400 nm).Specifically,the as-prepared 0.5%MoS2/ZIS6 photocatalyst exhibited the highest photocatalytic hydrogen production rate(74.25μmol·h^-1),which was approximately 4.3 times higher than that of ZIS6(17.47μmol·h^-1).The excellent performance of the 0.5%MoS2/ZIS6 photocatalyst may be due to the fact that MoS2 has a low Fermi energy level and can thus enrich photogenerated electrons from ZIS6,and furthermore reduce H+derived from formic acid,to form hydrogen.The structure and morphology of the MoS2/ZIS6 photocatalysts and the reactive species were determined by X-ray diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,and field emission scanning electron microscopy,among others;a plausible mechanistic rationale is discussed based on the results.

Highly active PtAu alloy surface towards selective formic acid electrooxidation

The electrochemical oxidation of formic acid has been attracting significant attention in the past few years due to the great potential prospect of direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC) in applications, including high theoretical open circuit potential (1.48 V), low fuel crossover, high practical power densities at low temperature, facilitating of proton transport in catalyst layers and low toxicity [1-5].

Ruthenium Bisphosphine Catalyst on Functionalized Silica: Novel Efficient Catalyst for Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Formic Acid

A novel efficient catalyst for the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to formic acid ruthenium bisphosphine on functionalized silica was in situ synthesized, affording turnover frequency （TOF） of 1190 h^-1 at 100% selectivity under 80℃ with total pressure of 16.0 MPa. The catalyst can be separated from the reaction mixture easily and reused with moderate loss of activity.

Improved perovskite solar cell efficiency by tuning the colloidal size and free ion concentration in precursor solution using formic acid additive

Improving the quality of the perovskite active layer is crucial to obtaining high performance perovskite solar cells(PSCs). In this work, by introducing formic acid into the formamidinium lead iodide(FAPbI3)precursor solution, we managed to achieve reduced colloidal size in the solution, leading to more uniform deposition of FAPbI3 film with lower trap state density and higher carrier mobility. The solar cells based on the FAPbI3 absorber layer modified with formic acid show significantly better photovoltaic performance than that on the reference FAPbI3 film without formic acid. The device performance shows a close correlation with the colloidal size. Within the range studied from 6.7 to 1.0 nm, the smaller the colloidal size is, the higher the solar cell efficiency. More specifically, the cell efficiency is improved from17.82% for the control cell without formic acid to 19.81% when 0.764 M formic acid was used. Formic acid has also been added into a CH3NH3PbI3(MAPbI3) precursor solution, which exhibits a similar effect on the resulting MAPb I3 films and solar cells, with efficiency improved from 16.07% to 17.00%.

Au core-PtAu alloy shell nanowires for formic acid electrolysis

Inefficient electrocatalysts and high-power consumption are two thorny problems for electrochemical hydrogen(H2)production from acidic water electrolysis.Herein we report the one-pot precise synthesis of ultrafine Au core-Pt Au alloy shell nanowires(Au@PtxAu UFNWs).Among them,Au@Pt_(0.077) Au UFNWs exhibit the best performance for formic acid oxidation reaction(FAOR)and hydrogen evolution reaction(HER),which only require applied potentials of 0.29 V and-22.6 m V to achieve a current density of 10 m A cm^(-2),respectively.The corresponding formic acid electrolyzer realizes the electrochemical H2 production at a voltage of only 0.51 V with 10 m A cm^(-2) current density.Density functional theory(DFT)calculations reveal that the Au-riched Pt Au alloy structure can facilitates the direct oxidation pathway of FAOR and consequently elevates the FAOR activity of Au@Pt_(0.077) Au UFNWs.This work provides meaningful insights into the electrochemical H_(2) production from both the construction of advanced bifunctional electrocatalysts and the replacement of OER.

PdNi/N-doped graphene aerogel with over wide potential activity for formic acid electrooxidation

Anti-CO poisoning ability is significant in formic acid oxidation in the fuel cell technique.Herein,Pd Ni alloy supported on N-doped graphene aerogel(Pd Ni/GA-N)was found to have catalytic ability toward formic acid electrooxidation over a wide potential range because of the improved anti-CO poisoning ability.This catalyst was fabricated by simple freeze-drying of mixture solution of graphene aerogel,polyvinylpyrrolidone,Pd^(2+)and Ni^(2+)and the subsequent thermal annealing reduction approach in the N2/H2 atmosphere.Pd-Ni alloy particles anchored over the folding N-doped graphene surface with a porous hierarchical architecture structure in the 3 D directions.It showed the catalytic performance of its maximum mass activity of 836 m A mg^(-1)in a broad potential range(0.2-0.6 V)for formic acid oxidation.The CO stripping experiment demonstrated its largely improved anti-CO poisoning ability with the peak potential of 0.67 V,approximately 60 and 40 m V less compared to those of Pd/GA-N and Pd/C samples.The high anti-CO poisoning ability and strong electronic effect resulting from the interaction between the3 D GA-N support and the Pd-Ni alloy makes it a promising catalyst for application in direct formic acid fuel cells.

Ultrafine PdAg alloy nanoparticles anchored on NH2-functionalized 2D/2D TiO_(2) nanosheet/rGO composite as efficient and reusable catalyst for hydrogen release from additive-free formic acid at room temperature

A 2 D-2 D titanium dioxide nanosheet-reduced graphene oxide(TNS-r GO)composite with better electronic conductivity and hydrophilicity was prepared by the hydrothermal method.The as-obtained TNS-r GO composite was further functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane(APTES)to provide a large amount of-NH2 groups on the surface for anchoring ultrafine Pd Ag alloy nanoparticles with an average particle size of 1.69 nm by a facile wet reduction approach.Benefiting from the combined effects of well-dispersed Pd Ag alloy nanoparticles,facilitated electron transfer from TNS-r GO to Pd,and increased electron density of active sites,the Pd8 Ag_(1)/NH_(2)-TNS-r GO catalyst exhibited excellent activity towards dehydrogenation of formic acid without adding any additives at 298 K,corresponding to an initial turn over frequency as high as 1090 h-1,which is much higher than that of most other state-of-theart catalysts.

FeOx Coating on Pd/C Catalyst by Atomic Layer Deposition Enhances the Catalytic Activity in Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid

Hydrogen generation from formic acid （FA） has received significant attention. The challenge is to obtain a highly active catalyst under mild conditions for practical applications. Here atomic layer deposition （ALD） of FeOx was performed to deposit an ultrathin oxide coating layer to a Pd/C catalyst, therein the FeOx coverage was precisely controlled by ALD cycles. Transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray diffraction measurements suggest that the FeOx coating layer improved the thermal stability of Pd nanoparticles （NPs）. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement showed that deposition of FeOx on the Pd NPs caused a positive shift of Pd3d binding energy. In the FA dehydrogenation reaction, the ultrathin FeOx layer on the Pd/C could considerably improve the catalytic activity, and Pd/C coated with 8 cycles of FeOx showed an optimized activity with turnover frequency being about 2 times higher than the uncoated one. shape as a function of the number of FeOx ALD The improved activities were in a volcanocycles, indicating the coverage of FeOx is critical for the optimized activity. In summary, simultaneous improvements of activity and thermal stability of Pd/C catalyst by ultra-thin FeOx overlayer suggest to be an effective way to design active catalysts for the FA dehydrogenation reaction.

Porous palladium phosphide nanotubes for formic acid electrooxidation

The development of an efficient catalyst for formic acid electrocatalytic oxidation reaction(FAEOR)is of great significance to accelerate the commercial application of direct formic acid fuel cells(DFAFC).Herein,palladium phosphide(PdxPy)porous nanotubes(PNTs)with different phosphide content(i.e.,Pd3P and Pd5P2)are prepared by combining the self-template reduction method of dimethylglyoxime-Pd(II)complex nanorods and succedent phosphating treatment.During the reduction process,the self-removal of the template and the continual inside-outside Ostwald ripening phenomenon are responsible for the generation of the one-dimensional hollow and porous architecture.On the basis of the unique synthetic procedure and structural advantages,Pd3P PNTs with optimized phos phide content show outstanding electroactivity and stability for FAEOR.Im portantly,the strong electronic effect between Pd and P promotes the direct pathway of FAEOR and inhibits the occurrence of the formic acid decomposition reaction,which effectively enhances the FAEOR electroactivity of Pd3P PNTs.In view of the facial synthesis,excellent electroactivity,high stability,and unordinary selectivity,Pd3P PNTs have the potential to be an efficient anode electrocatalyst for DFAFC.

Enhancement of the formic acid electrooxidation activity of palladium using graphene/carbon black binary carbon supports

Combinations of graphene(Gr)and carbon black(C)were employed as binary carbon supports to fabricate Pd‐based electrocatalysts via one‐pot co‐reduction with Pd2+.The electrocatalytic performance of the resulting Pd/Gr‐C catalysts during the electrooxidation of formic acid was assessed.A Pd/Gr0.3C0.7(Gr oxide:C=3:7,based on the precursor mass ratio)electrocatalyst exhibited better catalytic performance than both Pd/C and Pd/Gr catalysts.The current density generated by the Pd/Gr0.3C0.7catalyst was as high as102.14mA mgPd?1,a value that is approximately3times that obtained from the Pd/C(34.40mA mgPd?1)and2.6times that of the Pd/Gr material(38.50mA mgPd?1).The anodic peak potential of the Pd/Gr0.3C0.7was120mV more negative than that of the Pd/C and70mV more negative than that of the Pd/Gr.Scanning electron microscopy images indicated that the spherical C particles accumulated on the wrinkled graphene surfaces to form C cluster/Gr hybrids having three‐dimensional nanostructures.X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy data confirmed the interaction between the Pd metal and the binary Gr‐C support.The Pd/Gr0.3C0.7also exhibited high stability,and so is a promising candidate for the fabrication of anodes for direct formic acid fuel cells.This work demonstrates a simple and cost‐effective method for improving the performance of Pd‐based electrocatalysts,which should have potential industrial applications.

Photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of methane into methanol and formic acid over ZnO/graphene/polyaniline catalyst

ZnO/graphene/polyaniline(PANI) composite is synthesized and used for photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of methane under simulated sun light illumination with ambient conditions. The photoelectrochemical(PEC) performance of pure ZnO, ZnO/graphene, ZnO/PANI, and ZnO/graphene/PANI photoanodes is investigated by cyclic voltammetry(CV),chronoamerometry(J–t) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS). The yields of methane oxidation products,mainly methanol(CH_3OH) and formic acid(HCOOH), catalysed by the synthesized ZnO/graphene/PANI composite are 2.76 and 3.20 times those of pure ZnO, respectively. The mechanism of the photoelectrocatalytic process converting methane into methanol and formic acid is proposed on the basis of the experimental results. The enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity of the ZnO/graphene/PANI composite can be attributed to the fact that graphene can efficiently transfer photo-generated electrons from the inner region to the surface reaction to form free radicals due to its superior electrical conductivity as an inter-media layer. Meanwhile, the introduction of PANI promotes solar energy harvesting by extending the visible light absorption and enhances charge separation efficiency due to its conducting polymer characteristics.In addition, the PANI can create a favorable π-conjunction structure together with graphene layers, which can achieve a more effective charge separation. This research demonstrates that the fabricated ZnO/graphene/PANI composite promises to implement the visible-light photoelectrocatalytic methane oxidation.