ELECTROCATALYTIC REDUCTION OF CO2 IN WATER TO CO+H2 SYNGAS MIXTURES

摘要

Synthesis gas (syngas, CO+H2 mixtures) is a critical industrial feedstock for producing bulk chemicals (methanol, dimethyl ether, acetic acid, etc.) and synthetic fuels through industrial processing. It is predominantly derived from non-renewable sources, in particular, from methane and coal. Carbon dioxide is potentially a renewable carbon source for fuel and chemical applications if recycled reductively in closed energy conversion cycles. Using energy from a renewable source to convert carbon dioxide/water mixtures to syngas offers an alternate, sustainable approach for fuel and chemical productions. We present here results that show that the Ru(II) polypyridyl complex [RuII (tpy)(Mebim-py)(H2O)](PF6)2 (Mebim-py = 3-methyl-1-pyridyl-benzimidazol-2-ylidene, 1 in Figure 1, left) can catalyze both CO2 reduction to CO and water/proton reduction to H2 in aqueous phase with product ratios adjustable by controlling the potential and pH.