Fabrication of three-dimensional boron-doped diamond electrodes on SiC scaffolds

Three-dimensional (3D) architected electrode materials are expected to exhibit advantageous properties such as enlarged surface area, increased mass transfer, enhanced adsorption and more active sites exposed. In this paper, boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes on 3D printed patterned silicon carbide (SiC) scaffolds have been fabricated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The stabilization of the plasma sphere by using clamshell type CVD reactor, introducing the outer protecting plate, the optimization of CVD parameters, and the design of 3D-SiC scaffolds improved the sp3/sp2 ratio, uniformity and growth rate of BDD. 3D-BDD electrodes exhibit enough electrical conductivity for electrochemical applications. The preliminary test for electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction (CO2R) has showed the potential advantages of this type of 3D structured BDD electrodes.