title: New Insights Into the Role of Imidazolium-Based Promoters for the Electroreduction of CO2 on a Silver Electrode.
abstract: The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO is a reaction of central importance for sustainable energy conversion and storage. Herein, structure-activity relationships of a series of imidazolium-based cocatalysts for this reaction are described, which demonstrate that the C4- and C5-protons on the imidazolium ring are vital for efficient catalysis. Further investigation of these findings led to the discovery of new imidazolium salts, which show superior activity as cocatalysts for the reaction, i.e., CO is selectively produced at significantly lower overpotentials with nearly quantitative faradaic yields for CO.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Genevieve P S
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schreier
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vasilyev
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scopelliti
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grätzel
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) , CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Dyson