Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2021 (NFM21)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2021.198
Publication date: 23rd September 2021
A sustainable future requires that we harness renewable but intermittent sources of energy and transmit or store it to address real world patterns of use. Renewable energy can be used to sequester CO2 into a variety of products, such as carbon-neutral fuels and chemical feedstocks, thereby reducing atmospheric CO2. Reducing atmospheric CO2 levels requires the substitution of clean power for carbon-intensive fuels as well as CO2 conversion processes that transform emissions into useful chemical products. To reach cost targets for widespread commercial adoption, materials must enable more effective multiphase flow phenomena than what currently exists. This talk will discuss our latest work on performing in operando imaging of carbon dioxide electrolyzers to understand the role of mass transport losses on overall performance. Designing these materials requires the a priori knowledge of how the heterogeneous properties of the porous materials and their interfacial contacts influence electrochemical performance. I will discuss critical design factors and how they influence the flow and mass transport behaviour in carbon dioxide electrolyzers.