Simultaneous production of CO and HO by paired electrolysis coupling CO reduction and water oxidation.

Here, a novel paired electrolysis system is constructed, where fluorine-doped tin oxide glass serves as the anode for the water oxidation reaction to produce hydrogen peroxide (HO), and cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc)/carbon nanotube (CNT) loaded carbon paper as the cathode for CO reduction to generate CO. This system demonstrates a high overall energy efficiency of 34%, where a faradaic efficiency exceeding 90% for CO reduction and 60% for water oxidation to HO have been achieved, demonstrating significant energy savings of nearly 40% compared to the respective half-reaction systems.