Pulsed Electroreduction of CO[sub 2] on Cu-Ag Alloy Electrodes

Highly selective reduction of to , compounds such as , , and has been achieved on CuAg alloy electrodes by pulsed electroreduction. The faradaic efficiencies of compounds produced on CuAg alloy electrodes were varied with the atomic ratio of Cu to Ag. The total value of faradaic efficiencies for these compounds was 54.2% for the pulsed electroreduction on a CuAg alloy electrode (Cu/Ag = 28/72) with an anodic bias of and a cathodic bias of vs. Ag/AgCl. It was found that the formation of an oxide layer on Cu and the desorption of intermediates on Ag under anodic bias were key factors for the selective reduction of to compounds on CuAg alloy electrodes. © 2000 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.