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CO2 Electroreduction from Carbonate Electrolyte

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posted on 2019-05-24, 00:00 authored by Yuguang C. Li, Geonhui Lee, Tiange Yuan, Ying Wang, Dae-Hyun Nam, Ziyun Wang, F. Pelayo García de Arquer, Yanwei Lum, Cao-Thang Dinh, Oleksandr Voznyy, Edward H. Sargent
The process of CO2 valorizationfrom capture of CO2 to its electrochemical upgraderequires significant inputs in each of the capture, upgrade, and separation steps. Here we report an electrolyzer that upgrades carbonate electrolyte from CO2 capture solution to syngas, achieving 100% carbon utilization across the system. A bipolar membrane is used to produce proton in situ to facilitate CO2 release at the membrane:catalyst interface from the carbonate solution. Using a Ag catalyst, we generate syngas at a 3:1 H2:CO ratio, and the product is not diluted by CO2 at the gas outlet; we generate this pure syngas product stream at a current density of 150 mA/cm2 and an energy efficiency of 35%. The carbonate-to-syngas system is stable under a continuous 145 h of catalytic operation. The work demonstrates the benefits of coupling CO2 electrolysis with a CO2 capture electrolyte on the path to practicable CO2 conversion technologies.

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