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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Reductive Electropolymerization of a Vinyl-containing Poly-pyridyl Complex on Glassy Carbon and Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide Electrodes
Published on: January 30, 2015
Very highly efficient reduction of CO2 to CH4 using metal-free N-doped carbon electrodes
Xiaofu Sun1, Xinchen Kang1, Qinggong Zhu1
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences , Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics , Institute of Chemistry , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190 , China . Email: hanbx@iccas.ac.cn ;
Abstract:
The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to energy-rich chemicals is a promising pathway for energy storage and utilization. Herein we report the first work on the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CH4 using metal-free electrodes. It was found that N-doped carbon (graphene-like) material/carbon paper electrodes were very efficient for the electrochemical reaction when using ionic liquids (ILs) as the electrolytes. The faradaic efficiency of CH4 could be as high as 93.5%, which is the highest to date. The current density was about 6 times higher than that of a Cu electrode under similar conditions, which is the well-known effective electrode for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CH4. Additionally, a trace amount of water in the IL could improve the current density effectively without reducing CH4 selectivity considerably. Our results highlight a new class of low-cost and designable electrocatalysts for synthetic fuel production from CO2.
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