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Recycling spent silver electrodes into high-performance catalyst using chlorine-coordinated metal-ionic liquids

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmad, Naveed
  • Mustafa, Shumaila
  • Ping, Cui

Abstract

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECO2R) represents an effective approach for converting waste CO2 into value-added products using renewable energy. Despite extensive research on Ag-based electrocatalysts, their limited stability remains insufficient for industrial applications, leading to significant catalytic waste. This study presents a strategy to recycle spent Ag using metal ionic liquids (MILs). BMImCl:CuCl2 (Cu-MIL), BMImCl:FeCl3 (Fe-MIL), BMImCl:ZnCl2 (Zn-MIL), and BMImCl:NiCl2 (Ni-MIL) were employed to dissolve the spent Ag and convert it into AgCl. Among these, Cu-MIL and Fe-MIL demonstrated the highest Ag dissolution, reaching ∼82.85 ± 7 mg g−1-MIL and ∼73 ± 12 mg g−1-MIL, respectively. The recovered AgCl was subsequently reduced to metallic Ag using electrochemical and chemical reduction methods. The impact of these reduction methods on product selectivity was subsequently analyzed. Chemically reduced Ag catalysts (Ag-III) exhibited approximately ∼82 % FECO with a CO partial current density (jCO) of −7.5 mA cm−2, while electrochemically reduced Ag0.96Cu0.04 (Ag-II) demonstrated 65 % HCOO− Faradaic efficiency (FEHCOO−) with jHCOO− of −16 mA cm−2 in the H-cell. Furthermore, the Ag-II catalyst demonstrated jHCOO− up to −213.5 mA cm−2, achieving 59 % FEHCOO−, while the Ag-III catalyst exhibited a jCO of −175 mA cm−2 with 58.4 % FECO in the flow cell. These findings demonstrate a facile method for converting spent Ag into a high-performance catalyst.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmad, Naveed & Mustafa, Shumaila & Ping, Cui, 2026. "Recycling spent silver electrodes into high-performance catalyst using chlorine-coordinated metal-ionic liquids," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:261:y:2026:i:c:s0960148126000625
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125237
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