Bipolar membrane electrolyzers enable high single-pass CO2 electroreduction to multicarbon products

Ke Xie, Rui Kai Miao, Adnan Ozden, Shijie Liu, Zhu Chen, Cao-Thang Dinh, Jianan Erick Huang, Qiucheng Xu, Christine M. Gabardo, Geonhui Lee, Jonathan P. Edwards, Colin P. O’Brien, Shannon W. Boettcher, David Sinton () and Edward H. Sargent ()
Additional contact information
Ke Xie: University of Toronto
Rui Kai Miao: University of Toronto
Adnan Ozden: University of Toronto
Shijie Liu: University of Toronto
Zhu Chen: University of Toronto
Cao-Thang Dinh: Queen’s University
Jianan Erick Huang: University of Toronto
Qiucheng Xu: University of Oregon
Christine M. Gabardo: University of Toronto
Geonhui Lee: University of Toronto
Jonathan P. Edwards: University of Toronto
Colin P. O’Brien: University of Toronto
Shannon W. Boettcher: University of Oregon
David Sinton: University of Toronto
Edward H. Sargent: University of Toronto

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract In alkaline and neutral MEA CO2 electrolyzers, CO2 rapidly converts to (bi)carbonate, imposing a significant energy penalty arising from separating CO2 from the anode gas outlets. Here we report a CO2 electrolyzer uses a bipolar membrane (BPM) to convert (bi)carbonate back to CO2, preventing crossover; and that surpasses the single-pass utilization (SPU) limit (25% for multi-carbon products, C2+) suffered by previous neutral-media electrolyzers. We employ a stationary unbuffered catholyte layer between BPM and cathode to promote C2+ products while ensuring that (bi)carbonate is converted back, in situ, to CO2 near the cathode. We develop a model that enables the design of the catholyte layer, finding that limiting the diffusion path length of reverted CO2 to ~10 μm balances the CO2 diffusion flux with the regeneration rate. We report a single-pass CO2 utilization of 78%, which lowers the energy associated with downstream separation of CO2 by 10× compared with past systems.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31295-3

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31295-3

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