Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion

The development of efficient photoanodes that reduce external energy requirements for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formate is essential for the future implementation of this technology. In this work, we explore different photoanode structures based on electrodeposited BiVO4 onto transpar...

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Autores: Abarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682, Molera, Martí, Merino García, Iván, Díaz Sainz, Guillermo, Irabien Gulías, Ángel|||0000-0002-2411-4163, Solla Gullón, José, Fàbrega, Cristian, Andreu Hernández, María Teresa, Albo Sánchez, Jonathan|||0000-0001-6781-5704
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/36388
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/36388
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:CO2 photoelectroreduction
BiVO4 photoanodes
Electrodeposition
Formate
Energy efficiency
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spelling Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversionAbarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682Molera, MartíMerino García, IvánDíaz Sainz, GuillermoIrabien Gulías, Ángel|||0000-0002-2411-4163Solla Gullón, JoséFàbrega, CristianAndreu Hernández, María TeresaAlbo Sánchez, Jonathan|||0000-0001-6781-5704CO2 photoelectroreductionBiVO4 photoanodesElectrodepositionFormateEnergy efficiencyThe development of efficient photoanodes that reduce external energy requirements for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formate is essential for the future implementation of this technology. In this work, we explore different photoanode structures based on electrodeposited BiVO4 onto transparent FTO substrates to achieve a more efficient PEC reduction of CO2. Among the tested structures, the photoanode incorporating a Bi2O3 underlayer, which enhances the BiVO4-FTO interface by reducing electron-hole recombination, exhibits the best PEC performance. Integrating this photoanode into a CO2 photoelectrolyzer with back visible light illumination achieves an impressive current density of −29 mA cm−2 at constant −1.8 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Using a Bi/C GDE as the cathode, the system produces up to 56.2 g L−1 of formate with a Faradaic efficiency of 96 %. In terms of energy performance, illuminating the photoanode reduces energy consumption by nearly 40 %, bringing it down to 317 kWh kmol−1, with an energy efficiency of 38 %. The external bias can be further decreased by increasing the irradiation intensity to 2.5 suns using concentrated solar light, resulting in an additional 10 % reduction in energy consumption (290 kWh kmol−1), while maintaining high conversion efficiencies for CO2 to formate (over 95 % Faradaic efficiency). Besides, energy efficiency improves by 12 %, as the cathodic potential is reduced to −1.65 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). These results represent significant progress in reducing the external bias required for CO2 to formate conversion in PEC systems, marking a step toward the industrial application of CO2 conversion technology.The authors gratefully acknowledge Grant TED2021-129810B-C21 and PLEC2022-009398 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR”, and Grants PID2022-138491OB-C31, PID2022-138491OB-C32 and PID2022-138491OB-C33 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF/EU”. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101118265. Marti Molera acknowledges AGAUR-Generalitat de Catalunya for 2024 FI-1 00421 predoctoral grant. The authors thank Dr. Julià Lopez Vidrier for the access to the UV–vis equipment. Jose Antonio Abarca gratefully acknowledges the predoctoral research grant (FPI) PRE2021-097200. Ivan Merino-Garcia also acknowledges Grant RYC2023-043378-I funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 and by ESF +.ElsevierUniversidad de Cantabria20252025-06-15journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttps://hdl.handle.net/10902/36388Chemical Engineering Journal, 2025, 514, 16334828th International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE), Turku/Åbo Finland, 2024reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabriainstname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/363882026-06-02T12:39:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
title Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
spellingShingle Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
Abarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682
CO2 photoelectroreduction
BiVO4 photoanodes
Electrodeposition
Formate
Energy efficiency
title_short Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
title_full Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
title_fullStr Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
title_full_unstemmed Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
title_sort Electrodeposited BiVO4-based photoanodes for an energy-efficient photo-assisted CO2-to-formate conversion
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Abarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682
Molera, Martí
Merino García, Iván
Díaz Sainz, Guillermo
Irabien Gulías, Ángel|||0000-0002-2411-4163
Solla Gullón, José
Fàbrega, Cristian
Andreu Hernández, María Teresa
Albo Sánchez, Jonathan|||0000-0001-6781-5704
author Abarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682
author_facet Abarca González, José Antonio|||0000-0003-0120-8682
Molera, Martí
Merino García, Iván
Díaz Sainz, Guillermo
Irabien Gulías, Ángel|||0000-0002-2411-4163
Solla Gullón, José
Fàbrega, Cristian
Andreu Hernández, María Teresa
Albo Sánchez, Jonathan|||0000-0001-6781-5704
author_role author
author2 Molera, Martí
Merino García, Iván
Díaz Sainz, Guillermo
Irabien Gulías, Ángel|||0000-0002-2411-4163
Solla Gullón, José
Fàbrega, Cristian
Andreu Hernández, María Teresa
Albo Sánchez, Jonathan|||0000-0001-6781-5704
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Cantabria
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv CO2 photoelectroreduction
BiVO4 photoanodes
Electrodeposition
Formate
Energy efficiency
topic CO2 photoelectroreduction
BiVO4 photoanodes
Electrodeposition
Formate
Energy efficiency
description The development of efficient photoanodes that reduce external energy requirements for the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formate is essential for the future implementation of this technology. In this work, we explore different photoanode structures based on electrodeposited BiVO4 onto transparent FTO substrates to achieve a more efficient PEC reduction of CO2. Among the tested structures, the photoanode incorporating a Bi2O3 underlayer, which enhances the BiVO4-FTO interface by reducing electron-hole recombination, exhibits the best PEC performance. Integrating this photoanode into a CO2 photoelectrolyzer with back visible light illumination achieves an impressive current density of −29 mA cm−2 at constant −1.8 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Using a Bi/C GDE as the cathode, the system produces up to 56.2 g L−1 of formate with a Faradaic efficiency of 96 %. In terms of energy performance, illuminating the photoanode reduces energy consumption by nearly 40 %, bringing it down to 317 kWh kmol−1, with an energy efficiency of 38 %. The external bias can be further decreased by increasing the irradiation intensity to 2.5 suns using concentrated solar light, resulting in an additional 10 % reduction in energy consumption (290 kWh kmol−1), while maintaining high conversion efficiencies for CO2 to formate (over 95 % Faradaic efficiency). Besides, energy efficiency improves by 12 %, as the cathodic potential is reduced to −1.65 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). These results represent significant progress in reducing the external bias required for CO2 to formate conversion in PEC systems, marking a step toward the industrial application of CO2 conversion technology.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025-06-15
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10902/36388
url https://hdl.handle.net/10902/36388
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Chemical Engineering Journal, 2025, 514, 163348
28th International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE), Turku/Åbo Finland, 2024
reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
instname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
instname_str Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
reponame_str UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
collection UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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