Microenvironments of Cu catalysts in zero-gap membrane electrode assembly for efficient CO 2 electrolysis to C 2+ products
A zero-gap membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer is a promising design for electrochemical CO 2 reduction reactions (eCO 2 RRs), where gaseous CO 2 is directly fed without catholyte. The zero-gap junction between the catalyst and the membrane can have distinct chemical environments and mass...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2022-05, Vol.10 (19), p.10363-10372 |
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Hauptverfasser: | , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | A zero-gap membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) electrolyzer is a promising design for electrochemical CO
2
reduction reactions (eCO
2
RRs), where gaseous CO
2
is directly fed without catholyte. The zero-gap junction between the catalyst and the membrane can have distinct chemical environments and mass transfer properties from the conventional H-type cell but is rarely studied. In this work, we designed an integrated experimental-simulation study in MEA to understand the zero-gap junction and factors to determine the eCO
2
RR activity to multi-carbon production. We developed a simple synchronous ionomer/catalyst activation step under alkaline conditions to form jagged CuO nanoparticles whose unique morphological evolution facilitates the C
2+
chemical production for the zero-gap MEA electrolyzer. Moreover, under gas-fed and high–current density conditions, computational fluid dynamics suggests that the mass transfer limitation of water as a proton source across the catalyst-membrane layer and cathode kinetic overpotential are critical to determining C
2+
chemical production in the range of several micrometers. From the chemical-physical understanding, we achieved a high partial current density of 336.5 mA cm
−2
and a faradaic efficiency of 67.3% towards C
2+
chemicals. |
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ISSN: | 2050-7488 2050-7496 |
DOI: | 10.1039/D1TA10939A |