Electrosynthesis of a Defective Indium Selenide with 3D Structure on a Substrate for Tunable CO2 Electroreduction to Syngas

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 59; no. 6; pp. 2354 - 2359
• Main Authors: Yang, Dexin, Zhu, Qinggong, Sun, Xiaofu, Chen, Chunjun, Guo, Weiwei, Yang, Guanying, Han, Buxing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 03-02-2020
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Chemical reduction; CO2 reduction; Current density; electrocatalysis; Electrochemistry; Indium; indium selenide; Indium selenides; ionic liquid; Liquid fuels; Organic chemistry; Selenide; Substrates; syngas production; Synthesis gas
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201914831

Syngas (CO/H2) is a feedstock for the production of a variety of valuable chemicals and liquid fuels, and CO2 electrochemical reduction to syngas is very promising. However, the production of syngas with high efficiency is difficult. Herein, we show that defective indium selenide synthesized by an electrosynthesis method on carbon paper (γ‐In2Se3/CP) is an extremely efficient electrocatalyst for this reaction. CO and H2 were the only products and the CO/H2 ratio could be tuned in a wide range by changing the applied potential or the composition of the electrolyte. In particular, using nanoflower‐like γ‐In2Se3/CP (F‐γ‐In2Se3/CP) as the electrode, the current density could be as high as 90.1 mA cm−2 at a CO/H2 ratio of 1:1. In addition, the Faradaic efficiency of CO could reach 96.5 % with a current density of 55.3 mA cm−2 at a very low overpotential of 220 mV. The outstanding electrocatalytic performance of F‐γ‐In2Se3/CP can be attributed to its defect‐rich 3D structure and good contact with the CP substrate.
Flower power: Electrosynthesized flower‐like γ‐In2Se3 with abundant defects and a 3D structure on carbon paper (F‐γ‐In2Se3/CP) shows outstanding performance for the electroreduction of CO2 to syngas.