Steric Modification of a Cobalt Phthalocyanine/Graphene Catalyst to Give Enhanced and Stable Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction to CO

Authors

Jaecheol Choi, University of WollongongFollow
Pawel W. Wagner, University of WollongongFollow
Sanjeev Gambhir, University of WollongongFollow
Rouhollah Jalili, University of WollongongFollow
Douglas R. MacFarlane, Monash UniversityFollow
Gordon G. Wallace, University of WollongongFollow
David L. Officer, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

133747

Publication Details

Choi, J., Wagner, P., Gambhir, S., Jalili, R., MacFarlane, D. R., Wallace, G. G. & Officer, D. L. (2019). Steric Modification of a Cobalt Phthalocyanine/Graphene Catalyst to Give Enhanced and Stable Electrochemical CO 2 Reduction to CO. ACS Energy Letters, 4 (3), 666-672.

Abstract

Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 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 the carbon substrates and participate in the electrocatalytic reactions that yield CO 2 reduction are not always well-understood. In this work, a highly soluble and sterically hindered cobalt(II) octaalkoxyphthalocyanine was successfully immobilized on chemically converted graphene via π-π stacking. In comparison to an analogous cobalt phthalocyanine/graphene catalyst, the alkoxy substitutions helped to suppress the phthalocyanine aggregation on the graphene sheets, resulting in a significantly enhanced catalytic activity by a single phthalocyanine molecule (∼5 s -1 at 480 mV overpotential) with stable CO conversion over 30 h of electrolysis.

Grant Number

ARC/CE140100012