Abstract
Practical electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion requires catalysts that can efficiently form a single product with high selectivity at high current densities. Solid-state electrocatalysts can drive CO2 reduction at commercially relevant current densities, but maintaining high selectivity and efficiency remains challenging. Molecular CO2RR catalysts can be designed for high selectivity and low overpotential, but have typically operated only at current densities far below those needed for practical devices. Here, we show that cobalt phthalocyanine, a widely available molecular catalyst, mediates CO2-to-CO conversion in a zero-gap membrane flow reactor with selectivities greater than 95% at 150 mA cm–2. These results demonstrate that molecular catalysts can operate efficiently under practical flow-cell conditions and provide a distinct strategy for optimizing CO2RR catalysts and electrolyzers.