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Updated: Jan 9, 2026

Reductive Electropolymerization of a Vinyl-containing Poly-pyridyl Complex on Glassy Carbon and Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide Electrodes
Published on: January 30, 2015
Switching CO2 Electroreduction Pathways via Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Mediated Water Configuration Control
Yaoyu Yin1,2, Zhongnan Ling1, Keke Chai2,3
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Laboratory of Colloid and Interface and Thermodynamics, CAS Research/Education Centre for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Centre for Carbon Neutral Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 100049.
Abstract:
The water configuration plays a critical role in steering the CO2 electroreduction pathway, yet achieving precise control over water arrangement remains a significant challenge. In this study, we demonstrate that introducing trace amounts of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) into 3 M KCl enables targeted control over the CO2 electroreduction product distribution by simply adjusting the PVP concentration. Using a Cu19CeOx (molar ratio of Cu:Ce = 19:1) electrode, in the absence of PVP, multicarbon (C2+) products dominate, but substantial CO and H2 are also generated, with negligible CH4 formation. Remarkably, the addition of just 25 ppm PVP shifts the primary product to CH4, achieving a Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 60.4% at 500 mA cm-2. Further increasing the PVP concentration to 125 ppm switches the dominant product back to C2+, with an impressive FE of 90.8% at 800 mA cm-2. This trend is consistent across various Cu-based catalysts, highlighting the universality of this approach. Mechanistic studies reveal that PVP reconstructs the water configuration at the cathode surface, modulating not only the adsorption strength and coverage of *CO intermediates but also the kinetics of water dissociation, thereby dictating the reaction pathway.
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