Use of gas-diffusion electrodes for high-rate electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. II. Reduction at metal phthalocyanine-impregnated electrodes

The use of polytetrafluoroethylene-bonded, carbon gas-diffusion electrodes, prepared with carbon impregnated with metal phthalocyanines, for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in aqueous, acidic solution has been investigated. High rates of reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide were demonstrated at electrodes impregnated with cobalt (II) phthalocyanine. In contrast, formic acid, and not carbon monoxide, was produced at low rates at electrodes impregnated with either manganese, copper or zinc phthalocyanine. This marked variation in reaction product on changing the central metal ion of the organometallic complex is rationalized in terms of a reaction mechanism involving, as the first step, the electrochemical reduction of cobalt (II) to cobalt (I).