Titelangaben
Engelbrecht, Andreas ; Hämmerle, Martin ; Moos, Ralf ; Fleischer, Maximilian ; Schmid, Günter:
Improvement of the selectivity of the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons using cupreous electrodes with in-situ oxidation by oxygen.
2016
Veranstaltung: 6th Baltic Electrochemistry Conference
, 15th - 17th June, 2016
, Helsinki, Finland.
(Veranstaltungsbeitrag: Kongress/Konferenz/Symposium/Tagung
,
Poster
)
Abstract
The mostly insufficiently controlled emission of CO2 into the atmosphere and the associated change of the global climate are increasingly recognized as a serious problem. In this contribution, the direct electrochemical conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons, which represents a promising approach to reduce CO2 emissions, is investigated. The development of suitable catalysts for effective, selective and stable formation of hydrocarbons certainly is the key challenge. Previous studies by Hori et al. and others proved the capabilities of various metals, especially copper as electrode materials for this process.
First fundamental studies with copper sheet electrodes have been carried out with an electrolytic H-cell consisting of two glass compartments. The gaseous main-products such as CO, CH4, C2H4 and H2 were analyzed by a gas chromatograph, which was modified for online-measurements with a resolution of less than eight minutes.
Even copper oxide is repeatedly mentioned as a possible catalyst for the reduction of CO2. In this regard, we found out that the addition of oxygen to the feed gas stream can lead to an in-situ oxidation of the copper surface. With pure CO2, ethylene always seems to be a by-product of the formation of methane. With an in-situ oxidation, we observed a more selective formation of ethylene, irrespective of methane formation, additionally also at less cathodic potentials.