“Deactivation of copper electrode” in electrochemical reduction of CO2

Metallic Cu electrode can electrochemically reduce CO2 to CH4, C2H4 and alcohols with high yields as revealed by the present authors. Many workers reported that formation of CH4 and C2H4 rapidly diminishes during electrolysis of CO2 reduction. This paper shows that such deactivation of Cu electrode is reproduced with electrolyte solutions prepared from reagents used by these workers. Deactivated Cu electrodes recovered the electrocatalytic...