Facile Fabrication of Magnetic FeCo@N-Doped Carbon Boosting CO2 Electroreduction to C1+2 United with CH3OH Anodic Oxidation to Methylal in an Ionic Liquid

The torpid oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the counter electrode and HER as a competing reaction currently are the main problems besetting CO2 electroreduction in an aqueous electrolyte. Fe-Co encapsulated in N-doped carbon (FeCo@NC) was fabricated by the facile hydrothermal-pyrolytic approach and characterized by X-ray diffraction, TEM, FT-IR, Raman, and XPS to determine its composition and structure. The VSM measurement shows that prepared FeCo@NC possesses stronger magnetic property, and the CO2 electroreduction test at the FeCo@NC cathode indicates that FeCo@NC can boost the reduction of CO2 to C-1 (CO + CH4) and C-2 (dimethyl ether) compounds, associated with the Pt anode to conduct methanol electrooxidation to methylal (dimethoxymethane) in an ionic liquid-methanol medium, actualizing two half-reactions for coproducing energy chemicals. Higher average FEDMM (56.1%) within 24 h and high momentary FEC1+C2 (80.0%) at 24 h were obtained. The role that the Co, Fe-Co alloy, and Fe3O4 constituents play in the electrochemical reduction reaction of CO2 (CO(2)eRR) was explored. The catalyst exhibits higher stability for the CO(2)eRR within 72 h.