Abstract:
Electrocatalytic CO
2 reduction to formic acid is one of the promising approaches for realizing CO
2 resource utilization. However, the industrial application of this technology still faces challenges, such as low catalyst activity and high energy consumption in the reaction system. To develop efficient catalysts, Br elements were introduced into Bi
2O
3 synthesized via a two-step solvothermal and air roasting process, successfully yielding BiOBr with smaller particle sizes. Within a large current density range of −100 to −500 mA·cm
−2, faraday efficiency of formate (FE
formate) of BiOBr consistently remained around 90%, significantly outperforming the performance of Bi
2O
3. Combined with the characterization results of the catalyst after the reaction, it is demonstrated that Br elements can enhance the CO
2 electroreduction (CO
2RR) performance by modulating the catalyst size. A simple electrodeposition method was used to synthesize a CH
3OH electrooxidation (MOR) catalyst, Ni(OH)
2·0.75H
2O/NF, which achieved a maximum FE
formate of 94.5%. To improve the economic viability of the reaction system, a coupling system of formic acid co-production (CO
2RR//MOR) was constructed, with BiOBr as the cathode and Ni(OH)
2·0.75H
2O/NF as the anode. Compared to the CO
2RR//OER (Oxygen evolution reaction) system, the CO
2RR//MOR system reduced energy consumption by 39.3% and increased formic acid production by 45.5%. The results of the techno-economic analysis indicate that, compared to the CO
2RR//OER system, the CO
2RR//MOR system increases profit by 424.7 USD per ton of CO
2 processed, turning the electrolysis system economically from a loss to a profit.