Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Electrocatalysis

Hybrid catalyst to the rescue

Nature Synthesis (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

A hybrid carbon nanotube/molecular catalyst achieves highly selective electrochemical conversion of CO to methanol via mechanistic-guided optimizations.

Now, writing in Nature Synthesis, Wang and co-workers report a mechanism-guided selective CO-to-methanol electroreduction catalysed by a hybrid CNT/molecular catalyst3,4,5. The optimized catalyst achieves a remarkable 84% Faradaic efficiency with a partial current density of 20 mA cm−2 at −0.98 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) (ref. 3). A previously developed, hybrid material electrocatalyst1 was used and systematic kinetic studies were performed, allowing for the rational design of the experimental conditions as well as increasing the Faradaic efficiency and current density. The hybrid electrocatalyst material consists of amine-substituted cobalt phthalocyanine (Pc) molecules supported on carbon nanotubes (CoPc-NH2/CNT) and deposited on a carbon paper support. As an initial improvement compared with previous studies, the carbon support was modified by coating it with a microporous layer comprising carbon particles and fluoropolymers. This modification is intended to increase the limiting diffusion current for CO reduction. The physical effect appears modest as the limiting current density is ~15 mA cm−2-at high overpotentials, whereas it is ~8 mA cm−2 on the carbon paper. However, an increase of the Faradaic efficiency for methanol is observed, reaching 66%. Importantly, at low overpotentials it is shown that partial current densities for methanol production are free from mass transport contributions, allowing for mechanistic investigation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: CO to CH3OH electroconversion catalysed by a hybrid CoPc-NH2/CNT catalyst.

References

  1. Wu, Y. et al. Nature 575, 639–642 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Boutin, E. et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 16172–16176 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Li, J. et al. Nat. Synth. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00384-6 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhang, B. A. et al. ACS Cent. Sci. 5, 1097–1105 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Jung, O. et al. Joule 6, 476–493 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wu, Y. et al. ChemSusChem 13, 6296–6299 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Su, J. et al. Preprint at https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-r9r22 (2023).

  8. Ren, X. et al. Nat. Commun. 14, 3401–3410 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Twitter: @costentin

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, DCM, Grenoble, France

    Cyrille Costentin

Authors
  1. Cyrille Costentin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cyrille Costentin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Costentin, C. Hybrid catalyst to the rescue. Nat. Synth (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00391-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00391-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing