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Updated: May 22, 2025
Methane Hydrate Crystallization on Sessile Water Droplets
Published on: May 26, 2021
Water Clustering Modulates Activity and Enables Hydrogenated Product Formation during Carbon Monoxide
Hannah Fejzić1, Ritesh Kumar1, Reginaldo J Gomes1
1Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States.
None:
Water solvation plays a critical role in a wide range of electrochemical transformations, but its role is often convoluted since water is typically used as both a solvent and a proton source. Here, we experimentally control water speciation and activity using aprotic solvent media during the carbon monoxide reduction reaction (CORR). Remarkably, we show that aprotic solvents that support microheterogeneous water-water clusters lead to significant amounts of CORR products (methane and ethylene) with a maximum ethylene Faradaic efficiency of 22% in acetonitrile (χH2O = 0.2). In contrast, microhomogeneous systems-where water integrates into the solvents' intermolecular binding network and has lower activity-primarily support the undesired hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Insights gained expand our understanding of water activity and nonaqueous electrolyte design for other important transformation reactions beyond CO reduction, such as CO2RR and HER.
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