Preparation of copper oxide modified boron-doped diamond electrodes and its preliminary study for CO2 reduction

Abstract

Preparation of boron-doped diamond (BDD) modified with Cu2O (Cu2O-BDD) electrodes was conducted to study the electrochemical reduction of CO2. The electrodes were prepared by electrochemical reduction using a solution containing 1mM Cu(CH3COO)2 and 0.1 M CH3COONa (1:1) at pH 5.7 for 60 s. The electrodeposition of Cu2O at BDD surface was performed by chronoamperometry technique at -0.4 V (vs Ag/AgCl). SEM-EDS and XPS were utilized to characterize the electrodes. At Cu2O-BDD electrodes, cyclic voltammetry of dissolved CO2 in 0.1 M NaCl solution exhibited a reduction peak at around -1.3 V (vs Ag/AgCl), indicated the possibility for application in electrochemical reduction of CO2.