Effects of Thermodynamic Properties of Substituted Pyridines on the Kinetics of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

In light of the ever-increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and its effect on the global climate, one approach is to convert CO\(_{2}\) into useful fuels as a carbon neutral process. Efficient catalysts are necessary to overcome the large kinetic barrier of CO\(_{2}\) reduction; additionally, product selectivity is highly desirable. A better understanding of product selectivity can be derived by analyzing the redox potentials and peak cathodic current enhancements in cyclic voltammograms of test catalyst molecules. A method of predicting these parameters from fundamental properties of the molecules will allow for efficient screening of catalysts with high product selectivity. It was found that the redox potential depends solely on the pK\(_{a}\) of the catalyst molecule while the peak cathodic current enhancement depends much more on the relative energy levels of the HOMO and LUMO.