Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting19 (NFM19)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2019.242
Publication date: 18th July 2019
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) is one promising technique to address global issues of energy storage and advance towards a circular economy. Over the recent years, scientific efforts have generated much fundamental insight into the parameters dictating this complex reaction but studies probing high production rates for design of applicable devices are still scarce.
Here, we are presenting a study based on cubic Cu2O particles for the electrochemical CO2RR in a flow electrolyzer at high current density of 50 to 700 mA cm-2. To trace changes of the material during CO2RR, we use electron microscopy and X-Ray spectroscopy for respective determination of morphological and phase alterations. In this, we can observe drastic changes of the catalyst caused by reduction of the oxide phase. To overcome mass transport limitations and achieve high production rates, gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) were prepared by spray coating the cubic particles mixed with Nafion ionomer on porous carbon layers. We found the electrode preparation to strongly influence the CO2RR selectivity and have systematically studied the effect of changing particle loading and Nafion content. We used electrochemical techniques and electron microscopy to assess differences in active surface area of the electrodes and comment on the role of accessibility of the catalytic sites during the reaction. Furthermore, investigations of catholyte concentration suggest strong influences of the buffer capacity and local pH even at high currents, which have been previously believed to be only minor. Our study shows the possibility to transition from fundamental experiments to production rates of technological importance by the use of gas diffusion electrodes for the electrochemical CO2RR. Additionally, we demonstrate how system parameters influence the overall performance and give a guideline how to approach a functional electrolyzer for the CO2RR.
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.