Pulsed Electroreduction of CO 2 on Copper Electrodes

Pulsed electroreduction of carbon dioxide was performed on Cu electrodes. The formation rates of reduction products of showed strong contrast between the pulsed method and conventional (galvanostatic) method. Namely, the faradaic efficiencies of and under the pulsed condition kept constant while those under the steady‐state electroreduction reduced drastically as the reduction time passed. This is ascribed to the difference in surface properties of the electrode under the pulsed and steady‐state conditions. It is pointed out that, for a long‐term electroreduction in which the poisoning of the electrode activity due to the deposition of reaction products is likely to take place, the pulsed method is superior to the conventional one.