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Research Article

Gas diffusion in catalyst layer of flow cell for CO2 electroreduction toward C2+ products

Xiqing Wang1, Qin Chen1, Yajiao Zhou1, Yao Tan1, Ye Wang2, Hongmei Li1,3, Yu Chen1, Mahmoud Sayed4, Ramadan A. Geioushy4, Nageh K. Allam5, Junwei Fu1( ), Yifei Sun2,6( ), Min Liu1 ( )
Hunan Joint International Research Center for Carbon Dioxide Resource Utilization, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI), P.O. Box 87, Helwan 11421, Cairo, Egypt
Energy Materials Laboratory, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
Research Center for Advanced Energy and Carbon Neutrality, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
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Graphical Abstract

Through optimizing the CO2 reactant and CO intermediate gas diffusion by catalyst layers (CLs) with different thicknesses in flow cell, an excellent selectivity for C2+ products of ~ 79% at a high current density of 400 mA·cm−2 was obtained.

Abstract

The use of gas diffusion electrode (GDE) based flow cell can realize industrial-scale CO2 reduction reactions (CO2RRs). Controlling local CO2 and CO intermediate diffusion plays a key role in CO2RR toward multi-carbon (C2+) products. In this work, local CO2 and CO intermediate diffusion through the catalyst layer (CL) was investigated for improving CO2RR toward C2+ products. The gas permeability tests and finite element simulation results indicated CL can balance the CO2 gas diffusion and residence time of the CO intermediate, leading to a sufficient CO concentration with a suitable CO2/H2O supply for high C2+ products. As a result, an excellent selectivity of C2+ products ~ 79% at a high current density of 400 mA·cm−2 could be obtained on the optimal 500 nm Cu CL (Cu500). This work provides a new insight into the optimization of CO2/H2O supply and local CO concentration by controlling CL for C2+ products in CO2RR flow cell.

Keywords

gas diffusion electrodeCO2 reductionCumass transferC2 product

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Nano Research
Volume 17 Issue 3,
March 2024
Pages 1101-1106
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-023-5910-9
Cite this article:
Wang X, Chen Q, Zhou Y, et al. Gas diffusion in catalyst layer of flow cell for CO2 electroreduction toward C2+ products. Nano Research, 2024, 17(3): 1101-1106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5910-9
Topics:
Electrolytic reduction

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Received: 23 April 2023
Revised: 06 May 2023
Accepted: 09 May 2023
Published: 07 August 2023
© Tsinghua University Press 2023
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