Solar-Driven Reduction of 1 atm of CO_2 to Formate at 10% Energy-Conversion Efficiency by Use of a TiO_2-Protected III–V Tandem Photoanode in Conjunction with a Bipolar Membrane and a Pd/C Cathode
Abstract
A solar-driven CO_2 reduction (CO_2R) cell was constructed, consisting of a tandem GaAs/InGaP/TiO_2/Ni photoanode in 1.0 M KOH(aq) (pH = 13.7) to facilitate the oxygen-evolution reaction (OER), a Pd/C nanoparticle-coated Ti mesh cathode in 2.8 M KHCO_3(aq) (pH = 8.0) to perform the CO_2R reaction, and a bipolar membrane to allow for steady-state operation of the catholyte and anolyte at different bulk pH values. At the operational current density of 8.5 mA cm^(–2), in 2.8 M KHCO_3(aq), the cathode exhibited <100 mV overpotential and >94% Faradaic efficiency for the reduction of 1 atm of CO_2(g) to formate. The anode exhibited a 320 ± 7 mV overpotential for the OER in 1.0 M KOH(aq), and the bipolar membrane exhibited ∼480 mV voltage loss with minimal product crossovers and >90 and >95% selectivity for protons and hydroxide ions, respectively. The bipolar membrane facilitated coupling between two electrodes and electrolytes, one for the CO_2R reaction and one for the OER, that typically operate at mutually different pH values and produced a lower total cell overvoltage than known single-electrolyte CO_2R systems while exhibiting ∼10% solar-to-fuels energy-conversion efficiency.
Additional Information
© 2016 American Chemical Society. Received: August 2, 2016; Accepted: September 9, 2016; Publication Date (Web): September 9, 2016. This material is based on work performed by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, supported through the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Award Number DE-SC0004993. S.A.F. acknowledges the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech for a Postdoctoral Fellowship. The authors also thank N. Dalleska (Caltech) for his assistance with measurements and analysis of the ICPMS and TIC data. The authors declare no competing financial interest.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - nz6b00317_si_001.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 70765
- DOI
- 10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00317
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20161003-141800305
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- DE-SC0004993
- Resnick Sustainability Institute
- Created
-
2016-10-03Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-11Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Resnick Sustainability Institute, JCAP