Low-energy formate production from CO2 electroreduction using electrodeposited tin on GDE

Tin electrodeposition on carbon fibers have been implemented for gas diffusion electrodes for the electroreduction of CO2 to formate in a electrochemical flow cell design. Unlike other approaches, this method does not incorporate any additive or binder in the electrode, thus improving their catalytic performances. Once optimized, the system shows an improved dependence of the effective production of formate yield by surface and time units, mol m-2 s-1, on the consumed energy by mol, W h mol-1. It reduces the formic acid production energy cost, requiring less than 250 W h mol-1, with formate faradaic efficiency as high as 71% and is fully stable for at least 6 hours.