Development of Cu-Au interfaces on porous carbon support for selective electrochemical reduction of CO2

• Grant number: 25/13616-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Roberto de Vasconcelos Lanza
• Grantee: Thalita Ferreira da Silva
• Supervisor: Marc Ledendecker
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Technical University of Munich, Straubing (TUM), Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/10952-3 - Synthesis and characterization of new electrocatalysts for CO2 electroreduction aiming at the production of value-added products, BP.PD

Abstract

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, driven by renewable electricity, into value-added chemicals, enables energy storage while simultaneously contributing to climate change mitigation. This project proposes the development of nanosized copper-gold bimetallic catalysts supported on commercially available XE2B carbon black for application in a continuous by-flow electrochemical cell. The catalysts will be synthesized via the incipient wetness impregnation method and characterized using techniques such as Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The electrochemical performance will be evaluated using hydrodynamic linear sweep voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and double-layer capacitance measurements. The catalysts will be applied as gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for the selective conversion of CO2 into value-added products under different current densities. A distinctive feature of this proposal is the real-time monitoring of metal dissolution using ICP-MS coupled to a specially designed flow cell, enabling detailed insights into catalyst stability during operation. The developed materials are expected to exhibit high selectivity and improved resistance to leaching under optimized reaction conditions, contributing to the advancement of sustainable electrochemical technologies. By establishing correlations between structure, catalytic performance, and stability, this project aims to provide valuable insights for the rational design of new materials for CO2 electroreduction. (AU)