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Platinum and hybrid polyaniline–platinum surfaces for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2

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Abstract

Catalyst development is needed to enable the use of renewable electricity to chemically convert carbon dioxide (CO2) and water into fuels and chemicals, a more sustainable, lower-carbon alternative to conventional processes that produce fuels and chemicals based on fossil resources. In this study, the catalytic activity and selectivity of polycrystalline platinum (Pt) is thoroughly characterized for the CO2 reduction reaction, based on an electrochemical cell design that offers high sensitivity for product detection. Thin polyaniline films are then electrodeposited onto polycrystalline Pt foils to form hybrid organic–inorganic surfaces. The addition of the polymer is observed to have an impact on the catalytic chemistry, yielding up to a fivefold enhancement in formate and CO production over pure Pt foils. This work elucidates new strategies to perturb interfacial chemistry in a manner that could help steer CO2 electro-reduction catalysis in desired directions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support from the Global Climate Energy Project at Stanford University as well as the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-SC0008685. D. N. A. acknowledges fellowship support from Chevron through the Stanford Graduate Fellowship (SGF) Program. E. R. C. and K. P. K. acknowledge fellowship support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). The authors also acknowledge Ms. Michelle Vezie for technical assistance on this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305-4125, USA

    David N. Abram

  2. Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Kendra P. Kuhl

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Etosha R. Cave

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Shriram Center Room 305, Stanford, California, USA

    Thomas F. Jaramillo

Authors
  1. David N. Abram
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  2. Kendra P. Kuhl
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  3. Etosha R. Cave
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  4. Thomas F. Jaramillo
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Correspondence to Thomas F. Jaramillo.

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For supplementary material for this article, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2015.30

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Abram, D.N., Kuhl, K.P., Cave, E.R. et al. Platinum and hybrid polyaniline–platinum surfaces for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2. MRS Communications 5, 319–325 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2015.30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2015.30

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