Rational Design of a Hierarchical Tin Dendrite Electrode for Efficient Electrochemical Reduction of CO2

• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201500694
• Publication Date: 2015-07-28T12:59:24Z
• Authors: Da Hye Won; Chang Hyuck Choi; Jaehoon Chung; Min Wook Chung; Eun‐Hee Kim; Seong Ihl Woo
• Keywords: Oxygen evolution

Abstract Catalysis is a key technology for the synthesis of renewable fuels through electrochemical reduction CO 2 . However, successful still suffers from lack affordable catalyst design and understanding factors governing catalysis. Herein, we demonstrate that conversion selectivity on Sn (or SnO x /Sn) electrodes correlated to native oxygen content at subsurface. Electrochemical analyses show reduced electrode with abundant species effectively stabilizes .− intermediate rather than clean surface, consequently results in enhanced formate production reduction. Based this strategy, hierarchical dendrite high content, consisting multi‐branched conifer‐like structure an enlarged surface area, was synthesized. The exhibits superior rate (228.6 μmol h −1 cm −2 ) −1.36 V RHE without any considerable catalytic degradation over 18 operation.