Polarization-Induced Local pH Swing Promotes Pd-Catalyzed CO<sub>2</sub> Hydrogenation
Jaeyune Ryu, Yogesh Surendranath
Abstract
Electrochemical polarization can dramatically promote the rate of concurrent nonfaradaic catalytic reactions, but the mechanistic basis for these promotion effects at solid–liquid interfaces remains poorly understood. Herein, we establish a mechanistic framework for nonfaradaic promotion in aqueous media that operates via a local pH swing induced by a concurrent faradaic reaction. As a model system, we examined the kinetics of nonfaradaic Pd-catalyzed CO2 hydrogenation to formate and find that the reaction can be promoted by a combination of high alkalinity and high CO2 concentration. In bulk electrolyte, alkalinity and CO2 concentration are inversely correlated to each other as set by the CO2/bicarbonate equilibrium. We show that this impasse can be overcome by using electrical polarization to generate a nonequilibrium local environment that has both high alkalinity and high CO2 concentration. We find that this local pH swing promotes the rate of nonfaradaic CO2 hydrogenation to formate by nearly 3 orders of magnitude at modest potential bias. The work establishes a rigorous mechanistic model of nonfaradaic promotion in aqueous media and provides a basis for enhancing hydrogenation catalysis under mild conditions via electrical polarization.