New Insights Into the Role of Imidazolium-Based Promoters for the Electroreduction of CO2 on a Silver Electrode.

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO is a reaction of central importance for sustainable energy conversion and storage. Herein, structure-activity relationships of a series of imidazolium-based cocatalysts for this reaction are described, which demonstrate that the C4- and C5-protons on the imidazolium ring are vital for efficient catalysis. Further investigation of these findings led to the discovery of new imidazolium salts, which show superior activity as cocatalysts for the reaction, i.e., CO is selectively produced at significantly lower overpotentials with nearly quantitative faradaic yields for CO.