Steric Modification of a Cobalt Phthalocyanine/Graphene Catalyst To Give Enhanced and Stable Electrochemical CO2 Reduction to CO

• DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.8b02355
• Publication Date: 2019-02-01T21:04:35Z
• Authors: Jaecheol Choi; Pawel Wagner; Sanjeev Gambhir; Rouhollah Jalili; Douglas R. MacFar...; Gordon G. Wallace; David L. Officer
• Keywords: Overpotential

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 into CO using metal complex/carbon-based heterogenized hybrids can be both highly efficient and selective. The ways in which the molecular complexes are immobilized on carbon substrates participate electrocatalytic reactions that yield reduction not always well-understood. In this work, a soluble sterically hindered cobalt(II) octaalkoxyphthalocyanine was successfully chemically converted graphene via π–π stacking. comparison to an analogous cobalt phthalocyanine/graphene catalyst, alkoxy substitutions helped suppress phthalocyanine aggregation sheets, resulting significantly enhanced catalytic activity by single molecule (∼5 s–1 at 480 mV overpotential) with stable over 30 h electrolysis.