A School of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science joint research team consisting of Prof. Chang Suk-tai (CA) and Ph.D. student Lee Sung-min from the Microfluidics and Soft Matter Lab and Prof. Ahn Sang-hyun (CA), PhD. student Kim Jun-hyeong and M.S. Lee Hyun-ju from the Energy Nano Materials and Process Lab succeeded in developing electrocatalyst for efficient CO2 conversion by optimizing the N/S doping ratio in the Ag films. Their research outcomes were published in the online version of a leading journal in the field of catalyst “Applied Catalysis B: Environmental” (impact factor: 14.229) on Aug 8.

Lee Sung-min (Ph.D.), Lee Hyun-ju (M.S.), Kim Jun-hyeong (Ph.D.), Prof. Ahn Sang-hyun, Prof. Chang Suk-tai

The technology of producing high value-added organic materials through electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide is highly received as a core technology for addressing global warming. However, its low economic feasibility has been an obstacle to commercialization of the technology.

The research team developed a water-based, eco-friendly solution on an aminosilane-deposited substrate by using a seed-mediated metal growth technique. Optimization of the N/S doping ratio allowed the research team to obtain an excellent CO Faradaic Efficiency (FE) of 75.7% at &pe_QB;0.3 VRHE. The efficiency of the new catalyst has been confirmed to be four times higher than conventional ones, which is expected to make a breakthrough to address the problem of low economic feasibility that has hindered the commercialization of electrocatalysts.

The research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea’s basic research lab supporting program and middle-grade researcher supporting program.