Efficient CO2 fixation with acetophenone on Ag-CeO2 electrocatalyst by a double activation strategy

The electrocarboxylation reaction is an attractive means to convert CO 2 into valuable chemicals under ambient conditions, while it still suffers from low efficiency due to the high stability of CO 2 . In this work, we report a double activation strategy for simultaneously activating CO 2 and acetophenone by silver-doped CeO 2 (Ag-CeO 2 ) nanowires, featuring as an effective electrocatalyst for electrocarboxylation of acetophenone with CO 2 . Compared to the Ag foil, Ag nanoparticles and CeO 2 nanowires, the Ag-CeO 2 nanowire catalyst allowed to reduce the onset potential difference between CO 2 and acetophenone activation, thus enabling efficient electrocarboxylation to form 2-phenyllactic acid. The Faradaic efficiency for producing 2-phenyllactic acid reached 91% at −1.8 V versus Ag/AgI. This double activation strategy of activating both CO 2 and organic substrate molecules can benefit the catalyst design to improve activities and selectivities in upgrading CO 2 fixation for higher-value electrocarboxylation. This paper realizes the important role of minimizing the overpotential difference between CO 2 and organic substrate molecules in the CO 2 -involved electrocarboxylation reaction.