CRCU

Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6): 1145-1146.doi: 10.1007/s40242-020-0307-8

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Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2 Is an Active Phase in Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Formate

TAO Zixu, WANG Hailiang   

  1. Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
  • Received:2020-09-29 Revised:2020-10-02 Online:2020-12-01 Published:2020-10-06
  • Contact: WANG Hailiang E-mail:hailiang.wang@yale.edu

Abstract: Determining the catalytically active phase in electrochemical CO2 reduction has been challenging. In their work recently published in Nature Communications on July 8, 2020, Zhang et al. studied the phase transition of a tannin-lead(II) complex in electrochemical CO2 reduction and revealed that the in-situ formed hydrocerussite[Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2] is the stable active phase for formate production. This new finding may help settle the debate on the real active site of Pb-based materials for CO2 electroreduction.