https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06917-5
https://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2024/2/517295.shtm
A Chinese-New Zealand team has developed a proton-exchange membrane system that reduces CO2 to formic acid at a catalyst that is derived from waste lead–acid batteries and in which a lattice carbon activation mechanism contributes. When coupling CO2 reduction with hydrogen oxidation, formic acid is produced with over 93% Faradaic efficiency. The system is compatible with start-up/shut-down processes, achieves nearly 91% single-pass conversion efficiency for CO2 at a current density of 600 mA cm−2 and cell voltage of 2.2 V and is shown to operate continuously for more than 5,200 h.