Pulsed Electrochemical Carbon Monoxide Reduction on Oxide‐Derived Copper Catalyst

Abstract Efficient electroreduction of carbon dioxide has been a widely pursued goal as a sustainable method to produce value‐added chemicals while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Processes have been demonstrated for the electroreduction of CO 2 to CO at nearly 100 % faradaic efficiency, and as a consequence, there has been growing interest in the further electroreduction of carbon monoxide. Oxide‐derived copper catalysts have promising performance for the reduction of CO to hydrocarbons but have still been unable to achieve high selectivity to individual products. A pulsed‐bias technique is one strategy for tuning electrochemical selectivity without changing the catalyst. Herein a pulsed‐bias electroreduction of CO was investigated on oxide‐derived copper catalyst. Increased selectivity for single‐carbon products (i.e., formate and methane) was achieved for higher pulse frequencies (<1 s pulse times), as well as an increase in the fraction of charge directed to CO reduction rather than hydrogen evolution.