Non-invasive current collectors for improved current-density distribution during CO2 electrolysis on super-hydrophobic electrodes

Hugo-Pieter Iglesias van Montfort, Mengran Li, Erdem Irtem, Maryam Abdinejad, Yuming Wu, Santosh K. Pal, Mark Sassenburg, Davide Ripepi, Siddhartha Subramanian, Jasper Biemolt, Thomas E. Rufford and Thomas Burdyny ()
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Hugo-Pieter Iglesias van Montfort: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Mengran Li: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Erdem Irtem: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Maryam Abdinejad: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Yuming Wu: The University of Queensland
Santosh K. Pal: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Mark Sassenburg: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Davide Ripepi: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Siddhartha Subramanian: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Jasper Biemolt: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Thomas E. Rufford: The University of Queensland
Thomas Burdyny: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Electrochemical reduction of CO2 presents an attractive way to store renewable energy in chemical bonds in a potentially carbon-neutral way. However, the available electrolyzers suffer from intrinsic problems, like flooding and salt accumulation, that must be overcome to industrialize the technology. To mitigate flooding and salt precipitation issues, researchers have used super-hydrophobic electrodes based on either expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) gas-diffusion layers (GDL’s), or carbon-based GDL’s with added PTFE. While the PTFE backbone is highly resistant to flooding, the non-conductive nature of PTFE means that without additional current collection the catalyst layer itself is responsible for electron-dispersion, which penalizes system efficiency and stability. In this work, we present operando results that illustrate that the current distribution and electrical potential distribution is far from a uniform distribution in thin catalyst layers (~50 nm) deposited onto ePTFE GDL’s. We then compare the effects of thicker catalyst layers (~500 nm) and a newly developed non-invasive current collector (NICC). The NICC can maintain more uniform current distributions with 10-fold thinner catalyst layers while improving stability towards ethylene (≥ 30%) by approximately two-fold.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42348-6

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