Creating the right environment

Article Chemistry, Physical

Ethylene Electrosynthesis: A Comparative Techno-economic Analysis of Alkaline vs Membrane Electrode Assembly vs CO2-CO-C2H4 Tandems

Jared Sisler et al.

ACS ENERGY LETTERS (2021)

Article Energy & Fuels

Tailored catalyst microenvironments for CO2 electroreduction to multicarbon products on copper using bilayer ionomer coatings

Chanyeon Kim et al.

Summary: The authors investigated and optimized the microenvironment near the copper catalyst surface using bilayer ionomer coatings to improve the efficiency of CO2 reduction. By tailoring the microenvironment and coupling it with pulsed electrolysis, higher local CO2/H2O ratio and pH values are achieved, leading to selective C2+ production.

NATURE ENERGY (2021)

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Article Chemistry, Physical

Binder-Focused Approaches to Improve the Stability of Cathodes for CO2 Electroreduction

Uzoma O. Nwabara et al.

Summary: While flow electrolyzers have achieved high selectivity and activity in the reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals, their durability remains a challenge. This paper explores alternatives to Nafion as a binder in the catalyst layer, such as PTFE and Sustainion, as well as different methods of catalyst layer preparation. The use of mixed binders and coating cathodes with a Sustainion ionomer over layer show potential in extending the lifetimes of cathodes in CO2 electrolysis systems.

ACS APPLIED ENERGY MATERIALS (2021)

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Article Chemistry, Multidisciplinary

Chemical Modifications of Ag Catalyst Surfaces with Imidazolium Ionomers Modulate H-2 Evolution Rates during Electrochemical CO2 Reduction

David M. Koshy et al.

Summary: Integrating polymer design with catalyst surface science can impact the long-term goals in energy and sustainability by tuning and optimizing electrochemical reactors. Specifically, the role of imidazolium-based ionomers in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction has been studied, showing no effect on CO2R activity but promoting the competing hydrogen evolution reaction. Varying the ionomer structure by changing substituents on the imidazolium ring modulates the promotion of the hydrogen evolution reaction.

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (2021)

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Article Multidisciplinary Sciences

CO2 electrolysis to multicarbon products in strong acid

Jianan Erick Huang et al.

Summary: Carbon dioxide electroreduction (CO2R) is being actively studied as a promising route to convert carbon emissions to valuable chemicals and fuels. A study found that concentrating potassium cations in the vicinity of electrochemically active sites accelerates CO2 activation to enable efficient CO2R in acid. The research achieved a high CO2R efficiency on copper at pH <1 with a single-pass CO2 utilization of 77%.

SCIENCE (2021)

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Article Chemistry, Physical

Orientation of a bipolar membrane determines the dominant ion and carbonic species transport in membrane electrode assemblies for CO2 reduction

Marijn A. Blommaert et al.

Summary: A bipolar membrane can be used in reverse bias and forward bias in an electrochemical cell. The orientation of the BPM affects the environment of the CO2 reduction catalyst and ion transport mechanism. Reverse bias reduces CO2 crossover and cathodic potential, while forward bias shows lower CO selectivity and higher salt concentration.

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A (2021)

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Article Chemistry, Multidisciplinary