DOE OSTI · 1638489
A high-performance oxygen evolution catalyst in neutral-pH for sunlight-driven CO 2 reduction
Abstract
The efficiency of sunlight-driven reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), a process mimicking the photosynthesis in nature that integrates the light harvester and electrolysis cell to convert CO 2 into valuable chemicals, is greatly limited by the sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution in pH-neutral conditions. Current non-noble metal oxide catalysts developed to drive oxygen evolution in alkaline solution have poor performance in neutral solutions. Here we report a highly active and stable oxygen evolution catalyst in neutral pH, Brownmillerite Sr 2 GaCoO 5 , with the specific activity about one order of magnitude higher than that of widely used iridium oxide catalyst. Using Sr 2 GaCoO 5 to catalyze oxygen evolution, the integrated CO 2 reduction achieves the average solar-to-CO efficiency of 13.9% with no appreciable performance degradation in 19h of operation. Our results not only set a record for the efficiency in sunlight-driven CO 2 reduction, but open new opportunities towards the realization of practical CO 2 reduction systems.
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Zhou, Li Qin, Ling, Chen, Zhou, Hui, Wang, Xiang, Liao, Joseph, Reddy, Gunugunuri K., Deng, Liangzi, Peck, Torin C., Zhang, Ruigang, Whittingham, M. Stanley, Wang, Chongmin, Chu, Ching-Wu, Yao, Yan, Jia, Hongfei. 2019-09-09. A high-performance oxygen evolution catalyst in neutral-pH for sunlight-driven CO 2 reduction. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12009-8
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