CO2 Reduction to CO with 19% Efficiency in a Solar-Driven Gas Diffusion Electrode Flow Cell under Outdoor Solar Illumination

Solar-driven reduction of carbon dioxide represents a carbon-neutral pathway for the synthesis of fuels and chemicals. We report here results for solar-driven CO2 reduction using a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) directly powered by a photovoltaic cell. A GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction photovoltaic cell was used to power a reverse-assembled gas diffusion electrode employing a Ag nanoparticle catalyst layer. The device had a solar-to-CO energy conversion efficiency of 19.1% under simulated AM 1.5G illumination at 1 Sun. The use of a reverse-assembled GDE prevented transition from a wetted to a flooded catalyst bed and allowed the device to operate stably for >150 h with no loss in efficiency. Outdoor measurements were performed under ambient solar illumination in Pasadena, California, resulting in a peak solar-to-CO efficiency of 18.7% with a CO production rate of 47 mg·cm–2 per day and a diurnal-averaged solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency of 5.8%.