Tuning the Electronic Properties of Homoleptic Silver(I) bis-BIAN Complexes towards Efficient Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction

We report herein the preparation and characterization of six readily assembled bis-coordinated homoleptic silver(I) N,N′-bis(arylimino)acenaphthene (BIAN) complexes general structure [Ag(I)(BIAN)2]BF4 influence electronic properties ligand substitution pattern on their performance in electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R). All explored catalysts displayed substantial current enhancements carbon-dioxide-saturated solvents dependent ligated BIAN no significant concurrent H2 evolution when utilizing 2% H2O as a proton source. Additionally, preliminary studies, employing drop-casted ink 0.4 mg cm−2 [Ag(I)(4-OMe-BIAN)2]BF4 (Ag4) immobilized onto carbon paper gas diffusion electrodes flow cell with 1M KHCO3 aqueous electrolyte, resulted propitious Faradaic efficiency 51% for CO at density 50 mA cm−2.