Photocatalytic Formic Acid Conversion on CdS Nanocrystals with Controllable Selectivity for H2 or CO

Formic acid is considered a promising energy carrier and hydrogen storage material for a carbon‐neutral economy. We present an inexpensive system for the selective room‐temperature photocatalytic conversion of formic acid into either hydrogen or carbon monoxide. Under visible‐light irradiation (λ>420 nm, 1 sun), suspensions of ligand‐capped cadmium sulfide nanocrystals in formic acid/sodium formate release up to 116±14 mmol H₂ g_cat^?1 h^?1 with >99 % selectivity when combined with a cobalt co‐catalyst; the quantum yield at λ=460 nm was 21.2±2.7 %. In the absence of capping ligands, suspensions of the same photocatalyst in aqueous sodium formate generate up to 102±13 mmol CO g_cat^?1 h^?1 with >95 % selectivity and 19.7±2.7 % quantum yield. H₂ and CO production was sustained for more than one week with turnover numbers greater than 6×10⁵ and 3×10⁶, respectively.     

Exclusive Formation of Formic Acid from CO2 Electroreduction by a Tunable Pd‐Sn Alloy

Conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into fuels and chemicals by electroreduction has attracted significant interest, although it suffers from a large overpotential and low selectivity. A Pd‐Sn alloy electrocatalyst was developed for the exclusive conversion of CO₂ into formic acid in an aqueous solution. This catalyst showed a nearly perfect faradaic efficiency toward formic acid formation at the very low overpotential of −0.26 V, where both CO formation and hydrogen evolution were completely suppressed. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the formation of the key reaction intermediate HCOO* as well as the product formic acid was the most favorable over the Pd‐Sn alloy catalyst surface with an atomic composition of PdSnO₂, consistent with experiments.