Enhanced Electrochemical Methanation of Carbon Dioxide with a Dispersible Nanoscale Copper Catalyst

Although the vast majority of hydrocarbon fuels and products are presently derived from petroleum, there is much interest in the development of routes for synthesizing these same products by hydrogenating CO2. The simplest hydrocarbon target is methane, which can utilize existing infrastructure for natural gas storage, distribution, and consumption. Electrochemical methods for methanizing CO2 currently suffer from a combination of low activities and poor selectivities. We demonstrate that copper nanoparticles supported on glassy carbon (n-Cu/C) achieve up to 4 times greater methanation current densities compared to high-purity copper foil electrodes. The n-Cu/C electrocatalyst also exhibits an average Faradaic…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Award: DE-AC02-05CH11231
• DC
  Dow Chemical Company

  Award: 20120984
• OO
  Office of Science