Overall Carbon-neutral Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 in Molten Salts using a Liquid Metal Sn Cathode.

An overall carbon-neutral CO electroreduction requires enhanced conversion efficiency and intensified functionality of CO -derived products to balance the carbon footprint from CO electroreduction against fixed CO . A liquid Sn cathode is herein introduced into electrochemical reduction of CO in molten salts to fabricate core-shell Sn-C spheres (Sn@C). An in situ generated Li SnO /C directs a self-template formation of Sn@C. Benefitting from the accelerated reaction kinetics from the liquid Sn cathode and the core-shell structure of Sn@C, a CO -fixation current efficiency higher than 84 % and a high reversible lithium-storage capacity of Sn@C are achieved. The versatility of this strategy is demonstrated by other low melting point metals, such as Zn and Bi. This process integrates energy-efficient CO conversion and template-free fabrication of value-added metal-carbon, achieving an overall carbon-neutral electrochemical reduction of CO .