Gold-indium electrocatalysts for the selective oxidation of glycerol coupled with CO2 reduction

Abstract

Glycerol electrooxidation is a promising alternative to the oxygen evolution reaction in carbon dioxide electroreduction processes. It has the potential to both reduce the overall cell voltage and enable the commercialization of anodic oxidation products. Gold is a material that exhibits a high performance for glycerol oxidation but has a high manufacturing cost. In this work, a gold indium alloy has been synthesized that exhibits enhanced electrocatalytically properties, as evidenced by a reduction in the glycerol oxidation onset potential by 210 mV while reducing the electrode cost by 28%. This electrocatalyst has been evaluated in a flow cell configuration coupled with the cathodic reduction of carbon dioxide, and high faradaic efficiencies of up to 90% have been achieved for both the anodic and cathodic products.