Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes with Nickel Cyclam for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2

• Published in: ChemSusChem Vol. 13; no. 23; pp. 6449 - 6456
• Main Authors: Pugliese, Silvia, Huan, Ngoc Tran, Forte, Jérémy, Grammatico, Domenico, Zanna, Sandrine, Su, Bao‐Lian, Li, Yun, Fontecave, Marc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: ChemPubSoc Europe/Wiley 07-12-2020
• Subjects: Chemical Sciences; carbon nanotubes; CO2 conversion; electrocatalysis; heterogenization; nickel Cyclam
• ISSN: 1864-5631; 1864-564X
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202002092

The exploitation of molecular catalysts for CO
2
electrolysis requires their immobilization on the cathode of the electrolyzer. As an illustration of this approach, a Ni‐cyclam complex with a cyclam derivative functionalized with a pyrene moiety is synthesized, found to be a selective catalyst for CO
2
electroreduction to CO, and immobilized on a carbon nanotube‐coated gas diffusion electrode by using a noncovalent binding strategy. The as‐prepared electrode is efficient, selective, and robust for electrocatalytic reduction of CO
2
to CO. Very high turnover numbers (ca. 61460) and turnover frequencies (ca. 4.27 s
−1
) are enabled by the novel electrode material in organic solvent‐water mixtures saturated with CO
2
. This material provides an interesting platform for further improvement.