Efficient CO and acrolein co-production via paired electrolysis

Xue Wang, Peihao Li, Jason Tam, Jane Y. Howe, Colin P. O’Brien, Armin Sedighian Rasouli, Rui Kai Miao, Yuan Liu, Adnan Ozden, Ke Xie, Jinhong Wu, David Sinton and Edward H. Sargent ()
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Xue Wang: University of Toronto
Peihao Li: University of Toronto
Jason Tam: University of Toronto
Jane Y. Howe: University of Toronto
Colin P. O’Brien: University of Toronto
Armin Sedighian Rasouli: University of Toronto
Rui Kai Miao: University of Toronto
Yuan Liu: University of Toronto
Adnan Ozden: University of Toronto
Ke Xie: University of Toronto
Jinhong Wu: University of Toronto
David Sinton: University of Toronto
Edward H. Sargent: University of Toronto

Nature Sustainability, 2024, vol. 7, issue 7, 931-937

Abstract: Abstract Paired electrolysis—the combination of a productive cathodic reaction, such as CO2 electroreduction (CO2RR), with selective oxidation on the anode—provides an electrified reaction with maximized atom and energy efficiencies. Unfortunately, direct electro-oxidation reactions typically exhibit limited Faradaic efficiencies (FEs) towards a single product. Here we apply paired electrolysis for acidic CO2RR and the model organic oxidation allyl alcohol oxidation reaction to acrolein. This CO2RR alcohol oxidation reaction system shows (96 ± 1)% FE of CO2 to CO on the cathode and (85 ± 1)% FE of allyl alcohol to acrolein on the anode. As a result of this pairing with organic oxidation on the anode, the full-cell voltage of the system is lowered by 0.7 V compared with the state-of-art acidic CO2-to-CO studies at the same 100 mA cm−2 current density. The acidic cathode avoids carbonate formation and enables a single-pass utilization of CO2 of 84% with a 6× improvement in the atom efficiency of CO2 utilization. Energy consumption analysis suggests that, when producing the same amount of CO, the system reduces energy consumption by an estimated 1.6× compared with the most energy-efficient prior acidic CO2-to-CO ambient-temperature electrolysis systems. The work suggests that paired electrolysis could be a decarbonization technology to contribute to a sustainable future.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01363-1

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