1908
(Invited) Stand-Alone Artificial Photosynthesis of Formate from CO2 and Water Using Copper and Iron Oxide Catalysts

Monday, 30 May 2016: 15:00
Sapphire Ballroom I (Hilton San Diego Bayfront)
H. Park (Kyungpook National University, Korea)
Solar conversion of carbon dioxide and water to value-added chemicals remains a challenge. A number of solar-active catalysts have been reported but still suffer from low selectivity, poor energy efficiency, and instability, and fail to drive simultaneous water oxidation. Herein, we report CuFeO2 and CuO mixed p-type catalysts fabricated via a widely employed electroplating of earth-abundant cupric and ferric ions followed by annealing under atmospheric air. The composite electrodes exhibited onset potentials at +0.9 V vs. RHE in CO2-purged bicarbonate solution and converted CO2 to formate with over 90% selectivity under simulated solar light (Air Mass 1.5, 100 mW×cm-2). Wired CuFeO2/CuO photocathode and Pt anode couples produced formate over 1 week at a solar-to-formate energy conversion efficiency of ~1% (selectivity >90%) without any external bias while O2 was evolved from water. Isotope and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses confirmed the simultaneous production of formate and O2 at the stand-alone couples.