Brass and Bronze as Effective CO2 Reduction Electrocatalysts

Electrochemically reducing CO2 into fuels using renewable electricity is a contemporary global challenge that requires significant advances in catalyst design. Photodeposition techniques were used to screen ternary alloys of Cu‐Zn‐Sn, which includes brass and bronze, for the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO and formate. This analysis identified Cu0.2Zn0.4Sn0.4 and Cu0.2Sn0.8 to be capable of reaching Faradaic efficiencies of >80 % for CO and formate formation, respectively, and capable of achieving partial current densities of 3 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of merely 200 mV. Is bronze better than gold? Alloys of Cu‐Zn‐Sn are found to be effective for mediating the reduction of CO2 to CO and formate.