Date of Graduation

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemistry & Biochemistry

Advisor/Mentor

Coridan, Robert

Committee Member/Reader

Sakon, Joshua

Committee Member/Second Reader

Kumar, Pradeep

Committee Member/Third Reader

Dowdle, Andrew

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is widely known as a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels. The carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) is widely studied to reutilize CO2 to useful products, including methane, ethane, and carbon monoxide. This project studies the use of liquid metal gallium-indium as an electrocatalyst to perform CO2 reduction to carbon monoxide (CO) or possibly solid carbon in various solutions. Gallium-indium is characterized and studied through its “wetting” properties and adhesion to substrate foil through the measurement of contact angles inside solution. These liquid metal adhesion qualities mirror the study of “hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity” of water. Through the use of mechanical polishing, gallium-indium interfaces with copper to demonstrate more favorable adhesion forces. In conditions without water present, gallium-indium reduces CO2 to CO at voltages less than -2.25 volts and performs comparably to other known CO2RR catalysts that are more expensive, such as gold. Although solid carbon CO2RR was not discovered, the high catalytic rates suggest its importance as a catalyst for CO production. With the introduction of water to the electrolyte, hydrogen evolution occurs as a competing reaction, limiting the rates of CO production.

Keywords

Electrochemistry, Carbon Dioxide Reduction, Electrocatalysis, Gallium-Indium

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