Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis
Abstract Electrochemical CO2 reduction has emerged as a promising CO2 utilization technology, with Gas Diffusion Electrodes becoming the predominant architecture to maximize performance. Such electrodes must maintain robust hydrophobicity to prevent flooding, while also ensuring high conductivity to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53523-8 |
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| author | Simon Rufer Michael P. Nitzsche Sanjay Garimella Jack R. Lake Kripa K. Varanasi |
| author_facet | Simon Rufer Michael P. Nitzsche Sanjay Garimella Jack R. Lake Kripa K. Varanasi |
| author_sort | Simon Rufer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Electrochemical CO2 reduction has emerged as a promising CO2 utilization technology, with Gas Diffusion Electrodes becoming the predominant architecture to maximize performance. Such electrodes must maintain robust hydrophobicity to prevent flooding, while also ensuring high conductivity to minimize ohmic losses. Intrinsic material tradeoffs have led to two main architectures: carbon paper is highly conductive but floods easily; while expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene is flooding resistant but non-conductive, limiting electrode sizes to just 5 cm2. Here we demonstrate a hierarchically conductive electrode architecture which overcomes these scaling limitations by employing inter-woven microscale conductors within a hydrophobic expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene membrane. We develop a model which captures the spatial variability in voltage and product distribution on electrodes due to ohmic losses and use it to rationally design the hierarchical architecture which can be applied independent of catalyst chemistry or morphology. We demonstrate C2+ Faradaic efficiencies of ~75% and reduce cell voltage by as much as 0.9 V for electrodes as large as 50 cm2 by employing our hierarchically conductive electrode architecture. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4ad99fd45c4945269f06922a1ed23c28 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-4ad99fd45c4945269f06922a1ed23c282024-11-17T12:36:01ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-11-011511910.1038/s41467-024-53523-8Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysisSimon Rufer0Michael P. Nitzsche1Sanjay Garimella2Jack R. Lake3Kripa K. Varanasi4Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts AvenueDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts AvenueDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts AvenueDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts AvenueDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts AvenueAbstract Electrochemical CO2 reduction has emerged as a promising CO2 utilization technology, with Gas Diffusion Electrodes becoming the predominant architecture to maximize performance. Such electrodes must maintain robust hydrophobicity to prevent flooding, while also ensuring high conductivity to minimize ohmic losses. Intrinsic material tradeoffs have led to two main architectures: carbon paper is highly conductive but floods easily; while expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene is flooding resistant but non-conductive, limiting electrode sizes to just 5 cm2. Here we demonstrate a hierarchically conductive electrode architecture which overcomes these scaling limitations by employing inter-woven microscale conductors within a hydrophobic expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene membrane. We develop a model which captures the spatial variability in voltage and product distribution on electrodes due to ohmic losses and use it to rationally design the hierarchical architecture which can be applied independent of catalyst chemistry or morphology. We demonstrate C2+ Faradaic efficiencies of ~75% and reduce cell voltage by as much as 0.9 V for electrodes as large as 50 cm2 by employing our hierarchically conductive electrode architecture.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53523-8 |
| spellingShingle | Simon Rufer Michael P. Nitzsche Sanjay Garimella Jack R. Lake Kripa K. Varanasi Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis Nature Communications |
| title | Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis |
| title_full | Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis |
| title_fullStr | Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis |
| title_short | Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO2 electrolysis |
| title_sort | hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable co2 electrolysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53523-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT simonrufer hierarchicallyconductiveelectrodesunlockstableandscalableco2electrolysis AT michaelpnitzsche hierarchicallyconductiveelectrodesunlockstableandscalableco2electrolysis AT sanjaygarimella hierarchicallyconductiveelectrodesunlockstableandscalableco2electrolysis AT jackrlake hierarchicallyconductiveelectrodesunlockstableandscalableco2electrolysis AT kripakvaranasi hierarchicallyconductiveelectrodesunlockstableandscalableco2electrolysis |