Yangchun Lan

Silver Supported on Titania as an Active Catalyst for Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction

Although significant research efforts have focused on the exploration of catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 , considerably fewer reports have described how support materials for these catalysts affect their performance, which includes their ability to reduce the overpotential, and/or to increase the catalyst utilization and selectivity. Here Ag nanoparticles supported on carbon black (Ag/C) and on titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2 ) were synthesized. In a flow reactor, 40 wt % Ag/TiO2 exhibited a twofold higher current density for CO production than 40 wt % Ag/C. Faradaic efficiencies of the 40 wt % Ag/TiO2 catalyst exceeded 90 % with a partial current density for CO of 101 mA cm(-2) ; similar to the performance of unsupported Ag nanoparticle catalysts (AgNP) but at a 2.5 times lower Ag loading. A mass activity as high as 2700 mA mgAg (-1)  cm(-2) was achieved. In cyclic voltammetry tests in a three-electrode cell, Ag/TiO2 exhibited a lower overpotential for CO2 reduction than AgNP, which, together with other data, suggests that TiO2 stabilizes the intermediate and serves as redox electron carrier to assist CO2 reduction while Ag assists in the formation of the final product, CO.

Electrocatalytic Carboxylation of Arylic Bromides at Silver Cathode in the Presence of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract A simple and efficient electrocatalytic carboxylation of arylic bromides has been developed using silver as cathode and magnesium as anode in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) under mild conditions. The influences of some key factors (such as the nature of cathode material, current density, and temperature) on this reaction were investigated. The investigations were extended to other arylic bromides under the optimized conditions, and the corresponding carboxylic acids were obtained in moderate to good yields (30–78%). The electrochemical behavior was studied at different electrodes (Ag, Cu, Ni, and Ti) by cyclic voltammetry, which showed significant electrocatalytic effect of the silver electrode toward the reductive carboxylation of arylic bromides.