Electrocatalytic CO₂ conversion advances toward large-scale deployment

GlobalCO₂ Emissions continue to rise, reaching 36.1 Gt in 2022, prompting the implementation of carbon taxes and impacting energy use. Electrocatalytic CO₂ Reduction reaction (CO₂RR) contributes to green chemical engineering and carbon neutral construction to produce high value added chemicals and liquid fuels.

Decades of research, as well as advances in laboratory-scale catalyst design and electrolyzer engineering, promise large-scale sequestration of CO.₂ Electrolytic technology.

For practical applications, electrocatalytic CO₂RR must be activated in a whole cell, which is unfortunately affected by low CO₂ conversion, poor performance and stability at laboratory scale (> 200 mA cm) under industrially relevant current densities^-2) as a result, it is challenging to ensure sufficient production efficiency to minimize product separation costs and electricity consumption.

To further install a large amount of CO₂ An electrolytic system requires two dimensions to be considered: increasing unit surface area and electrode size. However, they both typically exhibit a pronounced amplification effect dictated by the complex multi-field coupling, which includes the electric field, reaction field, and flow field. This effect leads to reduced reaction efficiency and lifetime, ultimately limiting industrial CO activation.₂ Electrolysis with economic benefits.

Recently, a professor from Xiamen University, China. Ye Wang and Prof. The research team led by Shunji Zhi provided significant insights into the electrolytic conversion of CO.₂ For large scale deployment. Their works have been published Chinese Journal of Catalysis

This study provides a comprehensive overview of a multi-level interconnected research process with the aim of improving the commercial use of CO.₂ Electrolysis. The panel highlights the challenges in realizing high performance CO₂ change, drawing on recent research findings.

They also explore the future prospects of electrocatalytic CO₂ Change focuses on key issues that need to be addressed in its business application.

Although large-scale electrolysis is currently impractical, CO₂ Electrocatalytic conversion technology and its supporting facilities are advancing rapidly. This improvement has been accompanied by a decrease in the cost of renewable electricity.

The researchers emphasize the importance of developing the technology from a comprehensive perspective and address key issues at various scales, including the catalyst, interface, electrolyzer, and cell stack. Focusing on one aspect is unlikely to achieve the desired results.

Once over the roadblocks, especially in terms of energy conversion efficiency (ECE) and lifetime, CO₂ Electrolysis will soon be commercially available. However, they CO₂ Electrolysis technology is still in the early stages of large-scale applications.