DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.interect.2022.006
Publication date: 11th October 2022
The electrochemical CO2 reduction can be a key technology for a fossil free future but for industrial applications it is necessary to analyse and understand the cathode. As one of the main problems is the low utilization efficiency of CO2 in AEM approaches due to the carbonate formation we have to find solutions to solve carbonate formation by maintain high selectivity.
In this work we investigated NiNC cathode GDEs for CO2 reduction to CO in a zero-gap MEA cell regarding their activity in a classic AEM and CEM approach. We show that the CO2 access of the catalyst is important to achieve high performances. In an AEM approach with near neutral conditions on the anode we can reach 85% FE towards CO at 300 mA cm-2 at 3.6 V with single pass conversion of 40% which is close to the theoretical maximum. In addition, we can report high energy efficiency but only a utilization efficiency of around 50%.
Our newly introduced CCC value give information about the consumption of CO2 by the produced OH- during the CO2RR. The CCC value in combination with the selectivity enable insights in the mass transfer during the CO2 reduction in an AEM setup and get information about the accessibility of the catalyst and we can monitor the flooding.
On the other Hand, we show that our NiNC GDE is stable under acidic conditions in a PEM zero-gap cell. We added a protective layer on our catalyst to remain a local high pH at our active sites to maintain selectivity towards CO. The protons help to increase the utilization efficiency as the carbonate will react back to CO2 and water to 100%. Therefore, we investigated the activity with DI water and diluted H2SO4 at the anode. In pure water, 0.01 and 0.1M H2SO4 we can achieve a selectivity above 80% towards CO at 100 mA cm-2 with cell potentials around 3 V which are comparable to the AEM configuration with 0.1M KHCO3.
The CCC value is in the perfect case 0 as we do not consume any additional CO2 but can indicating flooding as the CCC is rising. This indicates water accumulation which can hinder the neutralization of the carbonate/OH- and CO2 will be consumed.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 851441, SELECTCO2.
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.