US Patent 9555367 Electrocatalytic process for carbon dioxide conversion

An electrocatalytic process for carbon dioxide conversion includes combining a Catalytically Active Element and Helper Catalyst in the presence of carbon dioxide, allowing a reaction to proceed to produce a reaction product, and applying electrical energy to said reaction to achieve electrochemical conversion of said reactant to said reaction product. The Catalytically Active Element can be a metal in the form of supported or unsupported particles or flakes with an average size between 0.6 nm and 100 nm. the reaction products comprise at least one of CO, HCO−, H2CO, (HCO2)−, H2CO2, CH3OH, CH4, C2H4, CH3CH2OH, CH3COO−, CH3COOH, C2H6, (COOH)2, (COO−)2, and CF3COOH.