Electrochemical Reduction Of Carbon Dioxide On 3d Printed Electrodes

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) intensify global warming. Electrochemical reduction of CO2 allows its conversion into value-added chemicals. This work presents the first application of 3D printing to manufacture catalysts for this process. Carbon nanotube-based electrodes printed by fused deposition modeling were functionalized by copper electroplating. The combination of scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical characterization revealed that the electroplating leads to randomly positioned hemispherical copper microparticles with charge transfer characteristics approaching those of planar interfaces. The activity of catalysts was inspected in the saturated solution of CO2 in aqueous KHCO3 electrolyte by monitoring the concentration of formate (HCOO-) as one of reaction products. The Faradaic efficiency vs. electrode potential dependence found in this work is comparable to characteristics reported for conventionally prepared micro-structured copper catalysts. Procedures devised and implemented in this work pave the way for the development of 3D printed electrocatalysts with controlled micro-architecture, activity and product selectivity.