Impact of Anodic Oxidation Reactions in the Performance Evaluation of High-Rate CO2/CO Electrolysis

Qiucheng Xu, Sihang Liu, Francesco Longhin, Georg Kastlunger, Ib Chorkendorff, Brian Seger*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

The membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) approach appears to be the most promising technique to realize the high-rate CO2/CO electrolysis, however there are major challenges related to the crossover of ions and liquid products from cathode to anode via the membrane and the concomitant anodic oxidation reactions (AORs). In this perspective, by combining experimental and theoretical analyses, several impacts of anodic oxidation of liquid products in terms of performance evaluation are investigated. First, the crossover behavior of several typical liquid products through an anion-exchange membrane is analyzed. Subsequently, two instructive examples (introducing formate or ethanol oxidation during electrolysis) reveals that the dynamic change of the anolyte (i.e., pH and composition) not only brings a slight shift of anodic potentials (i.e., change of competing reactions), but also affects the chemical stability of the anode catalyst. Anodic oxidation of liquid products can also cause either over- or under-estimation of the Faradaic efficiency, leading to an inaccurate assessment of overall performance. To comprehensively understand fundamentals of AORs, a theoretical guideline with hierarchical indicators is further developed to predict and regulate the possible AORs in an electrolyzer. The perspective concludes by giving some suggestions on rigorous performance evaluations for high-rate CO2/CO electrolysis in an MEA-based setup.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2306741
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume36
Issue number2
Number of pages11
ISSN0935-9648
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

The research leading to these results has received funding from the Villum Center for the Science of Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals Grant No. 9455 and research Grant No. 29450, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 851441 (SELECTCO2), Carlsberg Foundation (EHALIDE, project no. CF19‐0272), and from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (CapCO2 project No. 1127‐00120B).

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