Pyridine and Pyridinium Electrochemistry on Polycrystalline
Gold Electrodes and Implications for CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
We
examine the electrochemical behavior of pyridine (py) and pyridinium
ion (pyrH<sup>+</sup>) on gold electrodes in inert nitrogen (N<sub>2</sub>) and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) environments to evaluate
potential catalytic roles of nitrogen heterocycles in electrochemical
CO<sub>2</sub> reduction. Analysis of the pyridine and pyridinium
systems shows that gold electrodes exhibit unique pyrH<sup>+</sup> and CO<sub>2</sub> electrochemistry compared with previous work
on platinum electrodes or photoelectrode systems. Specifically, analysis
of the data shows specific adsorption of pyridine/pyridinium, an irreversible
reduction wave at β1.0 V vs Ag/AgCl associated with the one-electron
reduction of pyridinium, and an enhanced reductive current when CO<sub>2</sub> and pyrH<sup>+</sup> are included together in the aqueous
solution. Our results show no evidence to support formation of carbon-containing
reduction products and implicate CO<sub>2</sub> as a possible weak
acid catalyst for production of dihydrogen