Electrosynthesis of Six-Carbon Acetal from CO Using a Tandem Electrolysis.

The conversion of CO into high-value chemicals using renewable electricity offers a promising pathway toward carbon neutrality and sustainable chemical production. However, efficiently transforming CO into molecules with more than three carbon atoms remains a major challenge. Herein, we propose, for the first time, a tandem electrocatalytic strategy for converting CO into the highly valuable six-carbon compound 1,1-diethoxyethane (DEE, valued at ∼$7,000 per ton).

Electrosynthesis of ethylene glycol from biomass glycerol.

Ethylene glycol, a widely used chemical, has a large global capacity exceeding 40 million tons per year. Nevertheless, its production is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, resulting in substantial CO emissions. Herein, we report an approach for electrochemically producing ethylene glycol from biomass glycerol.

Proton-Transfer Dynamics Regulates CO Electroreduction Products via Hydrogen Coverage.

Electrochemical conversion of CO to hydrocarbons is a promising approach to carbon neutrality and energy storage. The formation of reaction intermediates involves crucial steps of proton transfer, making it essential to understand the role of protons in the electrochemical process to control the product selectivity and elucidate the underlying catalytic reaction mechanism of the CO electrochemical reduction (CORR). In this work, we proposed a strategy to regulate product selectivities by tuning local proton transport rates through a surface resin layer over cuprous oxides.

Acetamide Electrosynthesis from CO and Nitrite in Water.

Renewable electricity driven electrocatalytic CO reduction reaction (CO RR) is a promising solution to carbon neutralization, which mainly generate simple carbon products. It is of great importance to produce more valuable C-N chemicals from CO and nitrogen species. However, it is challenging to co-reduce CO and NO /NO to generate aldoxime an important intermediate in the electrocatalytic C-N coupling process.

Asymmetrical electrohydrogenation of CO to ethanol with copper-gold heterojunctions.

Copper is distinctive in electrocatalyzing reduction of CO into various energy-dense forms, but it often suffers from limited product selectivity including ethanol in competition with ethylene. Here, we describe systematically designed, bimetallic electrocatalysts based on copper/gold heterojunctions with a faradaic efficiency toward ethanol of 60% at currents in excess of 500 mA cm. In the modified catalyst, the ratio of ethanol to ethylene is enhanced by a factor of 200 compared to copper catalysts.