Proceedings of Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MAT-SUS) (NFM22)
Publication date: 11th July 2022
Copper (Cu) is a unique catalyst capable to convert CO2 into a variety of carbon products like methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), or ethanol (C2H5OH). However, the product selectivity toward different carbon products is very spread.[1] Tuning the catalyst surface properties, such as the electroactive surface area and crystalline facets´ distribution, is fundamental for improving the selectivity of the catalyst.[2] In addition, an accurate characterization of the surface structure is essential for the rational design of a more selective catalyst.
In this work, we have used lead under potential deposition (lead UPD) to characterize different Cu surfaces. UPD is an electrochemical technique in which the deposition of a foreign metal (lead) monolayer over the metal electrode is recorded at potentials more favourable than the bulk thermodynamic deposition. The UPD allows the characterization of the catalyst exposed facets due to the difference in potential in which lead gets deposited over each facet.[3] Using this technique we have recorded a lead UPD profile of Cu (poly) and of electrochemically nanostructured Cu surfaces using Chloride.[4] (Figure 1a). Then, using the lead UPD profiles of Cu (111) and (100) single crystals (figure 1b) we have analysed the facet distribution of the different nanostructured copper surfaces, and we have estimated the total surface area and the contribution of each exposed facet. In summary, we have proved that lead UPD is a sensitive and useable technique to characterize the entire Cu surface structure, relevant to understanding the Cu's surface impact on the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2.
Figure 1: a) Lead UPD profile of a copper surface treated with chloride (green filled area) and a flat polycrystalline copper surface (black dashed line). b) Lead UPD profile of the Cu (100) and (111) single crystals and lead UPD profile of the Cu (poly). Both figures were performed at 5 mV/s with a pH of 3.
The authors acknowledge the support from the Danish National Research Foundation Center for High Entropy Alloys Catalysis (CHEAC, DNRF-149). This work was also supported by the Danish Foundation through DFF-Research Project1 (Thematic Research, green transition) under grant number 0217-00213A. MEE gratefully acknowledges Villum Foundation for financial support through a Villum Youn Investigator Grant (project number:19142)
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.