title: A highly selective copper-indium bimetallic electrocatalyst for the electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO2 to CO.
abstract: The challenge in the electrochemical reduction of aqueous carbon dioxide is in designing a highly selective, energy-efficient, and non-precious-metal electrocatalyst that minimizes the competitive reduction of proton to form hydrogen during aqueous CO2 conversion. A non-noble metal electrocatalyst based on a copper-indium (Cu-In) alloy that selectively converts CO2 to CO with a low overpotential is reported. The electrochemical deposition of In on rough Cu surfaces led to Cu-In alloy surfaces. DFT calculations showed that the In preferentially located on the edge sites rather than on the corner or flat sites and that the d-electron nature of Cu remained almost intact, but adsorption properties of neighboring Cu was perturbed by the presence of In. This preparation of non-noble metal alloy electrodes for the reduction of CO2 provides guidelines for further improving electrocatalysis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), 4700 KAUST, 23955-6900 Thuwal (Saudi Arabia).
authors.forename: Shahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rasul
authors.forename: Dalaver H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.forename: Abdesslem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jedidi
authors.forename: Yury
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minenkov
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cavallo
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takanabe
keywords: Cu-In alloy; carbon dioxide fixation; electrocatalysis; electrochemistry; reaction mechanisms