Local ionic transport enables selective PGM-free bipolar membrane electrode assembly

Mengran Li (), Eric W. Lees, Wen Ju, Siddhartha Subramanian, Kailun Yang, Justin C. Bui, Hugo-Pieter Iglesias van Montfort, Maryam Abdinejad, Joost Middelkoop, Peter Strasser, Adam Z. Weber, Alexis T. Bell and Thomas Burdyny ()
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Mengran Li: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Eric W. Lees: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Wen Ju: Technical University Berlin
Siddhartha Subramanian: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Kailun Yang: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Justin C. Bui: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Hugo-Pieter Iglesias van Montfort: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Maryam Abdinejad: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Joost Middelkoop: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg
Peter Strasser: Technical University Berlin
Adam Z. Weber: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Alexis T. Bell: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thomas Burdyny: Delft University of Technology; 9 van der Maasweg

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Bipolar membranes in electrochemical CO2 conversion cells enable different reaction environments in the CO2-reduction and O2-evolution compartments. Under ideal conditions, water-splitting in the bipolar membrane allows for platinum-group-metal-free anode materials and high CO2 utilizations. In practice, however, even minor unwanted ion crossover limits stability to short time periods. Here we report the vital role of managing ionic species to improve CO2 conversion efficiency while preventing acidification of the anodic compartment. Through transport modelling, we identify that an anion-exchange ionomer in the catalyst layer improves local bicarbonate availability and increasing the proton transference number in the bipolar membranes increases CO2 regeneration and limits K+ concentration in the cathode region. Through experiments, we show that a uniform local distribution of bicarbonate ions increases the accessibility of reverted CO2 to the catalyst surface, improving Faradaic efficiency and limiting current densities by twofold. Using these insights, we demonstrate a fully platinum-group-metal-free bipolar membrane electrode assembly CO2 conversion system exhibiting

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52409-z

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