UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS

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2024-11-22 1:55
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2021 Meeting


Section: Physics and Technology of Renewable and Alternative Energy Sources


Title:
Carbon Dioxide reduction using photoelectrolysis


Authors:
Tugce ERNIYAZOV


Affiliation:
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, PO Box MG 38, 077125, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania


E-mail
tugcegoktas95@gmail.com


Keywords:
photoelectrochemistry, carbon dioxide, reduction, electrode, current


Abstract:
The topic of the work at hand is the photoelectrochemical reduction carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons. In the first part of the paper, basic principles of electrochemistry were introduced. In addition to this different metal and metal-based catalysts were compared based on the literature. Afterwards photoelectrochemistry was clarified and each component of the cell used was defined. Finally, the experimental results were shown and interpreted. A photoelectrochemical cell uses light for CO2 reduction reaction. There are 3 electrodes in a photoelectrochemical cell: reference electrode, counter electrode and the working electrode. The working electrode support used throughout the experiments is a square FTO (fluorine doped tin oxide) based glass electrode. The working electrode was fabricated by spray depositing copper form a CuCl2 solution. The aim of the thesis is to compare the currents obtained in reducing carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons. To achieve this, two experiments were done in two different conditions. Afterwards, the results obtained were compared within the two experiments and the literature. In order to obtain the current, the first experiment was done with ink deposited electrodes baked for an hour at 400 oC whereas the second experiment was done with ink deposition while the electrode is on a 400 oC surface. The current obtained was lower than expected due to different limitations such as inhomogeneous deposition of ink and unwanted particles on the electrode surface. In the future, improvement on the conditions that cause limitations can be done. For inhomogeneity, an automatic air brush can be used for spraying the ink, for the unwanted particles electrodes can wait in pure water.