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Laboratoire d'Electrochimie Moleculaire, LEM, Paris

UMR CNRS - Université Paris Diderot - Paris France

   
 
Master Frontiers in Chemistry | UFR de Chimie - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 CNRS - Institut de chimie Université de Paris Master Chimie Sorbonne Paris Cité UFR de Chimie - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 CNRS - Institut de chimie
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Université Paris Diderot
Université de Paris CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
 
 


Le LEM - Publications: Abstracts

Publication 836

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 139 (39) ,13922-13928, 2017
DOI:10.1038/nmat4968
   



doi


Catalysis and Inhibition in the Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 on Platinum in the Presence Protonated Pyridine. New Insights into Mechanisms and Products

 

Hachem Dridi, Clement Comminges, Claudia Morais, Jean-Claude Meledje, Kouakou Boniface Kokoh, Cyrille Costentin, and Jean-Michel Savéant

Sorbonne Paris Cité, Laboratoire d’Electrochimie Moléculaire, Unité Mixte de Recherche Université - CNRS no. 7591, Université Paris Diderot, Bâtiment Lavoisier, 15 rue Jean de Baïf, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France
IC2MP UMR-CNRS 7285, Université de Poitiers, 4 rue Michel Brunet, TSA 51106, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France

In the framework of modern energy challenges, the reduction of CO2 into fuels calls for electrogenerated low-valent transition metal complexes catalysts designed with considerable ingenuity and sophistication. For this reason, the report that a molecule as simple as protonated pyridine (PyH+) could catalyze the formation of methanol from the reduction of CO2 on a platinum electrode triggered great interest and excitement. Further investigations revealed that no methanol is produced. It appears that CO2 is not really reduced but rather participates, on the basis of its aquation into carbonic acid, in hydrogen evolution. Actually, the situation is not that straightforward, as revealed by scrutinizing what happens at the platinum electrode surface. The present study confirms the lack of methanol formation upon bulk electrolysis of PyH+ solutions at Pt and provides a detailed account of the Faradaic yield for H2 production as a function of the electrode potential, but the main finding is that CO2 reduction is accompanied by a strong inhibition of the electrode process taking place when it is carried out in the presence of acids such as PyH+ and AcOH. Cyclic voltammetry and in situ infrared spectroscopy were closely combined to investigate and understand the nature and consequences of the inhibition process. Constant comparison between the two acids was required to decipher the course of the reaction owing to the fact that the IR responses are perturbed by PyH+ adsorption. It finally appears that inhibition is caused by the reduction of CO2 into CO, whose high affinity with platinum triggers the formation of a Pt–CO film that prevents the reaction process. Thus, a paradoxical situation develops in which the high affinity of Pt for CO helps to decrease the overpotential for the reduction of CO2 and therefore blocks the electrode, preventing the reaction process.

 
   
 
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