A tunable metal–polyaniline interface for efficient carbon dioxide electro-reduction to formic acid and methanol in aqueous solution

Abstract

It is reported that metals on polyaniline (PANI) prepared by a simple method can exhibit excellent activity in the electro-reduction of CO₂ to HCOOH or CH₃OH due to tunable properties: N atoms on PANI capture CO₂ through a strong Lewis acid–base interaction while Pd atoms, amongst Pd, Pt, and Cu studied, facilitate the fastest proton and electron transfers along PANI to the CO₂ trapped sites to give rise to the best HCOOH yield in a highly cooperative manner.