Electrochemical reduction of CO 2 using Co 3 O 4 /P-rGO: toward sustainable chemical feedstocks Rad Mosharrof Mim, Al-Nakib Chowdhury* Department of Chemistry, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000 *Corresponding Author: Dr. Al-Nakib Chowdhurynakib@chem.buet.ac.bd The electrocatalytic reduction of greenhouse CO 2 into value-added fuels presents a sustainable solution to energy and environmental challenges. In this study, we demonstrated the catalytic performance of flower-like cobalt oxide (Co 3 O 4 ) for CO 2 electroreduction. To enhance its activity and conductivity, flower-like Co 3 O 4 was combined with phosphorus-doped reduced graphene oxide (P-rGO) to form a hybrid catalyst. Structural and morphological characterization were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Electrochemical reduction was conducted in 0.5 M NaHCO 3 at pH 7.5 using a three-electrode system, with the synthesized catalyst as the working electrode, Ag/AgCl as the reference, and platinum wire as the counter electrode. Chronoamperometry at -0.62 V (vs Ag/AgCl) for 2.5 hours showed that the flower-like Co 3 O 4 achieved a 69% faradaic efficiency for ethanoic acid with a current density of -0.5 mA/cm². The Co 3 O 4 /P-rGO hybrid exhibited enhanced performance, yielding ethanoic acid (58%) and propionaldehyde (9%) at -0.8 mA/cm². These results highlight the potential towards the electrocatalytic reduction of CO 2 can be improved by incorporating the flower-like cobalt oxide (Co 3 O 4 ) into the P-rGO supporting material. This can provide a unique platform to synthesis and fabricate a shape-based materials flower-like Co 3 O 4 and hybrid flower-like Co 3 O 4 /P- rGO as an electro-catalyst paving the way for a future powered by renewable boundless energy and wealth from greenhouse CO 2 gas and other pollutants. References 1. Suparna Saha, Soumyajit Maitra, Mausumi Chattopadhyaya, Arundhati Sarkar, Suhail Haque, Subhasis Roy, Kajari Kargupta. “Unveiling the Electrocatalytic Activity of Crystal Facet-Tailored Cobalt Oxide-rGO Heterostructure Toward Selective Reduction of CO2 to Ethanol,” ACS Appl. Nano Mater., vol. 5, no. 8, pp. 10369–10382, Aug. 2022. Doi: 10.1021/ acsanm.2c01703. 2. Weiyi Chen, Bin Han, Chen Tian, Xueming Liu, Shujie Liang, Hong Deng and Zhang Lin. “MOFs-derived ultrathin holey Co3O4 nanosheets for enhanced visible light CO2 reduction,” Appl. Catal. B Environ., vol. 244, pp. 996–1003, May. 2019. Doi: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.12.045. 3. Hengpan Yang, Xinyao Yu, Jie Shao, Jingxuan Liao, Guodong Li, Qi Hu, Xiaoyao Chai, Qianling Zhang, Jianhong Liu and Chuanxin He. “In situ encapsulated and well dispersed Co3O4 nanoparticles as efficient and stable electrocatalysts for high- performance CO2 reduction,” J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 8, no. 31, pp. 15675–15680, Aug. 2020. Doi: 10.1039/D0TA03770B. 4. Pandiaraj Sekar, Laura Calvillo, Cristina Tubaro, Marco Baron, Anuj Pokle, Francesco Carraro and Stefano Agnoli.“Cobalt Spinel Nanocubes on N-Doped Graphene: A Synergistic Hybrid Electrocatalyst for the Highly Selective Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Formic Acid,” ACS Catal., vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 7697-7703, Nov. 2017. Doi: 10.1021/acscatal.7b02166. 5. Shan Gao, Zhongti Sun, Wei Liu, Xingchen Jiao, Xiaolong Zu, Qitao Hu, Yongfu Sun, Tao Yao, Wenhua Zhang, Shiqiang Wei and Yi Xie. “Atomic layer confined vacancies for atomic-level insights into carbon dioxide electroreduction,” Nat. Commun., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 14503, Feb. 2017. Doi: 10.1038/ncomms14503.
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