Journal
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
Volume 5, Issue 6, Pages 7723-7732Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.2c00473
Keywords
stability; gas diffusion electrodes; HER inhibition; nanoscale carbon layer; CO2 reduction
Funding
- Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) [1S56920N]
- ERC Consolidator Grant [815128]
- Research Council of the University of Antwerp [BOF-GOA 33928]
- FWO Flanders [G038215N]
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Applying a nanoscale amorphous carbon layer on top of the active catalyst layer can inhibit the hydrogen evolution reaction and stabilize the electrocatalyst in electrochemical CO2 reduction cells. A thickness of 15 nm was found to provide optimal inhibition and stability.
A promising strategy for the inhibition of the hydrogen evolution reaction along with the stabilization of the electrocatalyst in electrochemical CO2 reduction cells involves the application of a nanoscale amorphous carbon layer on top of the active catalyst layer in a gas diffusion electrode. Without modifying the chemical nature of the electrocatalyst itself, these amorphous carbon layers lead to the stabilization of the electrocatalyst, and a significant improvement with respect to the inhibition of the hydrogen evolution reaction was also obtained. The faradaic efficiencies of hydrogen could be reduced from 31.4 to 2.1% after 1 h of electrolysis with a 5 nm thick carbon layer. Furthermore, the impact of the carbon layer thickness (5-30 nm) on this inhibiting effect was investigated. We determined an optimal thickness of 15 nm where the hydrogen evolution reaction was inhibited and a decent stability was obtained. Next, a thickness of 15 nm was selected for durability measurements. Interestingly, these durability measurements revealed the beneficial impact of the carbon layer already after 6 h by suppressing the hydrogen evolution such that an increase of only 37.9% exists compared to 56.9% without the use of an additional carbon layer, which is an improvement of 150%. Since carbon is only applied afterward, it reveals its great potential in terms of electrocatalysis in general.
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