Hi Everyone! I am currently trying to convert CO2 into C2 compound using copper as the cathode in a h-cell as everyone does. The electrolyte I am currently using is CO2 saturated 0.1 M ~ 0.5 M KHCO3. According to the papers that have been published, I applied -1.52 V vs Ag/AgCl to the cathode trying to produce C2 compound. However, the reduction current decreases very fast to almost zero right after I apply the reduction potential. I suspect that the copper electrode is poisoned by something. I found that the surface of copper foil will be covered by some "black" substance after the reduction current dropped to almost zero.
(The copper foil was polished by using sand paper and applying 3V against a graphite rod in 85% H3PO4 acid. The electrolyte was pretreated to remove heavy metal impurity via conducting water electrolysis for 24 hours.)
Are there anyone who also has the same issues? How do you conduct your experiment to prevent the deactivation of copper electrodes? Thank you very much!
Dear Wei Jyun Wang
Carbon dioxide was reduced electrochemically using copper foil electrodes with nanopores on the surface. An alloying dealloying method was used to create the nanopores changed structure.
Xin Wang et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 38, 32782–32789
S Kalaiselvan Thank you for your response! However, the activity of copper died so fast when I performed my experiment. I think it is poisoned by something, but I am not sure. Do you know possible reasons? Thanks!
Dear Wei Jyun Wang
The formation of methane and ethene at Cu electrode diminishes rapidly and the hydrogen evolution prevails in 10–30 min after the start of the CO2 electrolysis process which was already reported by Y. Hori et al
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