Selective electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to oxalate by lead tin oxides with low overpotential

Carbon dioxide electroreduction to oxalate suffers from low selectivity and large overpotential. This study used lead tin oxide nanoparticles for selective oxalate generation with low overpotential in propylene carbonate. The maximum Faradaic efficiency of 85.1 % have been reached by PbSnO3/C at −1.9 V vs Ag/Ag+ with oxalate current density of 2.0 mA/cm2 on carbon fiber paper. The notable activity for CO2 electroreduction to oxalate was attributed to the synergistic effect of partially reduced Pb and oxidized SnOx composites in lead tin oxides.