Electrochemical Conversion of CO 2 to 2-Bromoethanol in a Membraneless Cell

Abstract

Tremendous research efforts have been made to electrochemically convert CO 2 into useful chemicals, with the main products being limited to hydrocarbons and oxygenates. One-step processes that integrate CO 2 reduction with a subsequent reaction to produce other types of functional chemicals are economically attractive. Here we report that direct electrochemical conversion of CO 2 to 2-bromoethanol, a valuable pharmaceutical intermediate, is enabled by coupling the anodic and cathodic reactions with the presence of potassium bromide electrolyte in a membraneless electrochemical cell. The maximum Faradaic efficiency of converting CO 2 to 2-bromoethanol that we achieved is 40% at 1.01 V RHE with a partial current density of 19 mA cm -2 . Our work demonstrates a new strategy for making value-added products from CO 2 through a simple process.