Flexible and free-standing polyvinyl alcohol-reduced graphene oxide-Cu2O/CuO thin films for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

Anjaiah Sheelam, Adil Muneeb, Biva Talukdar, Rini Ravindranath, Song Jeng Huang, Chun Hong Kuo, Raman Sankar*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Abstract: Flexible and free-standing thin films were fabricated and employed directly as working electrodes for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in 0.5 N KHCO3 at 25 °C, in which, various sizes of Cu2O nanocubes (~ 27 ± 2, 37 ± 3, 62 ± 4 and 207 ± 3 nm) with different extent of surface oxidation (13, 20, 66, and 64% of Cu(II)) were reinforced on to polyvinyl alcohol/reduced graphene oxide matrix (PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO_X, where, X = without halide, Cl, Br and I). The size of Cu2O nanocubes and their surface oxidation were systematically altered by the addition of 1 mL of 10 mM sodium halides (NaCl, NaBr, and NaI) during the synthesis. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping displayed the specific adsorption of Cl ions over the Cu2O surface, whereas Br and I ions did not show such behaviour. PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO_Cl) thin film exhibited a low overpotential of 20 mV for CO2 reduction reaction and, ~ 60 and ~ 7 times higher current density at − 0.80 V vs. RHE compared to that of the PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO), PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO_Br) ≈ PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO_I), respectively. Gas chromatography and 1H-NMR analyses confirmed methanol as the single liquid product, with a faradaic efficiency of 63% at − 0.75 V vs. RHE on PVA/rGO/(Cu2O/CuO_Cl) thin film. Graphic abstrat: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)979-991
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Applied Electrochemistry
Volume50
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2020

Keywords

  • H-NMR
  • CO electrochemical reduction
  • Nanocubes
  • Reduced graphene oxide
  • Thin film electrodes

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