Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 on Copper Oxidized By Electrochemical Methods

Copper was formed by electrochemical reduction of copper oxides formed due to the electrochemical oxidation via three different electrochemical techniques CA, CV and LSV. The XPS analysis and the SEM images show that the oxides present on the copper surface gets reduced to copper in first few minutes during the reduction of CO2. Interestingly, this particular electrochemical treatment of copper surface yields a form of active copper with superior activity compared to un-oxidized polycrystalline copper for electrochemical reduction CO2. The major product of the electrochemical CO2 reduction in the aqueous alkaline phase was formate ions along with gaseous hydrogen. Faradaic efficiency for reduction of carbon dioxide to formate ions was more in case of the copper surface activated by the CV rather than by CA and LSV as the CV created more active copper as compared to the CA and LSV.