Efficient bi-functional catalyst towards coupling glycerol oxidation and CO2 reduction to achieve formic acid and formate production

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formate is a promising technology, which has attracted much attention in the field of carbon neutralization. Although, the kinetic -sluggish anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) limits the efficiency of CO2 electroreduction. Herein, an electrocatalytic technology for glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) coupled with CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) has been developed to achieve the generation of formic acid and formate. Using GOR instead of OER not only overcomes the kinetic bottleneck of the entire system, but also improves the Faraday efficiency of formic acid (84.5%) and formate (90.2%). Cu(OH)2/FC as anode electrocatalyst can generates a large number of hydroxyl radicals, which enhances the oxidation efficiency of glycerol. The strategy proposed in this work is expected to be widely used in other electrocatalytic reactions.