Jim de Ruiter
Room - David de Wied, 4th floor study area
J.deRuiter@uu.nl

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) could be a promising carbon source for the production of chemical building blocks. As big chemical processes release significant amounts of CO₂ in the atmosphere, it would be a waste not putting effort in finding novel processes to valorize CO₂, as it could serve as a cheap and alternative carbon feedstock in our chemical industry.
Electrochemical reduction of CO₂ using copper electrodes and (renewable) electricity to common chemicals, such as the C₁ products carbon monoxide and methane or the C₂ products ethylene and ethanol, has already been reported with high Faradaic efficiencies [1,2]. Although we know that copper has the unique ability to induce C-C coupling, production of C₃₊ compounds with high Faradaic efficiencies has not been reported yet. The kinetic pathways, and how we can control the selectivity and stability of electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction to higher hydrocarbons, remain knowledge gaps and ask for more extended research. In this research, we will unravel these knowledge gaps regarding the kinetic pathways of CO₂ reduction and try to enhance the product activity and selectivity (including to higher hydrocarbons C₃₊). We will use time resolved and high spatial resolution surface sensitive techniques that could lead to in situ visualization of reaction intermediates, and thus shed light on the reaction pathways that govern C₃₊ hydrocarbon formation. This will be realized using in situ surface-sensitive IR and Raman spectroscopy on copper nanoparticle (pure and alloys) electrodes.

[1] Chem. Rev. 2019, 119, 7610−7672.

[2] Nat. Energy 2019, 4, 732–745.