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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Probing dissolved CO2(aq) in aqueous solutions for CO2 electroreduction and storage
Jiachen Li1,2, Jinyu Guo1,3, Hongjie Dai1
1Department of Chemistry and Bio-X, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Abstract:
CO2 dissolved in aqueous solutions CO2(aq) is important to CO2 capture, storage, photo-/electroreduction in the fight against global warming and to CO2 analysis in drinks. Here, we developed microscale infrared (IR) spectroscopy for in situ dynamic quantitating CO2(aq). The quantized CO2(g) rotational state transitions were observed to quench for CO2(aq), accompanied by increased H2O IR absorption. An accurate CO2 molar extinction coefficient ε was derived for in situ CO2(aq) quantification up to 58 atm. We directly measured CO2(aq) concentrations in electrolytes under CO2(g) bubbling and high-pressure conditions with high spectral and time resolutions. In KHCO3 electrolytes with CO2(aq) > ~1 M, CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR) to formate reached >98% Faradaic efficiencies on copper (Cu2O/Cu)-based electrocatalyst. Furthermore, CO2 dissolution/desolvation kinetics showed large hysteresis and ultraslow reversal of CO2(aq) supersaturation in aqueous systems, with implications to CO2 capture, storage, and supersaturation phenomena in natural water bodies.
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