Presenter: Alison Wang
Authors: Alison Wang, Caroline Saouma
Faculty Advisor: Caroline Saouma
Institution: University of Utah
Transition metal electro-catalysts have previously been shown to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which is promising for future energy schemes.Recenteffortshavefocused on(N^N)Mn(CO)3X complexes due to their performance and exclusion ofexpensive metals(X = anionic ligand, N^N =bidentate N-donor ligand).My presentation will focus onthecharacterizationof proposed intermediatesof (N^N)Mn(CO)3X(N^N =bpy). First, I will discuss the stability of the proposed (bpy)Mn(CO)4+species, and howit may be pertinent to a catalytic cyclefor CO2reduction.Next, I will discuss how this complex can be used to preparethe(bpy)Mn(CO)3X (X =C(O)OH,C(O)OMe) species, and explore their electrochemical properties.Finally, I willcompare the electrochemical behavior oftwo(bpy)Mn(CO)3Xcomplexes (X= C(O)OH, OCHO), to see at what potentials diverging reactivity, CO production versusformateproduction, occurs.Taken together,this work provides abetter understanding of how to favor a protonation-first pathwayfor CO production, which occurs at lower overpotentials than the reduction-first mechanism.This will overall contributemore broadly to our understanding of electrocatalytic CO2reduction.