Facile Synthesis of Heterogeneous Indium Nanoparticles for Formate Production via CO<sub>2</sub> Electroreduction
Ana Cristina Pérez-Sequera,
Manuel Antonio Diaz-Perez,
Mayra Anabel Lara Angulo,
Juan P. Holgado,
Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz
Affiliations
Ana Cristina Pérez-Sequera
Materials and Sustainability Group, Department of Engineering, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Avda. de las Universidades s/n, 41704 Dos Hermanas, Spain
Manuel Antonio Diaz-Perez
Materials and Sustainability Group, Department of Engineering, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Avda. de las Universidades s/n, 41704 Dos Hermanas, Spain
Mayra Anabel Lara Angulo
Materials and Sustainability Group, Department of Engineering, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Avda. de las Universidades s/n, 41704 Dos Hermanas, Spain
Juan P. Holgado
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla and Departamento de Química Inorgánica, CSIC-Univ de Sevilla, Av. Américo Vespucio, 49, 41092 Seville, Spain
Juan Carlos Serrano-Ruiz
Materials and Sustainability Group, Department of Engineering, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Avda. de las Universidades s/n, 41704 Dos Hermanas, Spain
In this study, a simple and scalable method to obtain heterogeneous indium nanoparticles and carbon-supported indium nanoparticles under mild conditions is described. Physicochemical characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed heterogeneous morphologies for the In nanoparticles in all cases. Apart from In0, XPS revealed the presence of oxidized In species on the carbon-supported samples, whereas these species were not observed for the unsupported samples. The best-in-class catalyst (In50/C50) exhibited a high formate Faradaic efficiency (FE) near the unit (above 97%) at −1.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl, achieving a stable current density around −10 mA·cmgeo−2, in a common H-cell. While In0 sites are the main active sites for the reaction, the presence of oxidized In species could play a role in the improved performance of the supported samples.
