Electrocatalysis in non-thermal plasma for energy storage

用于储能的非热等离子体电催化

• 批准号: EP/X000931/1
• 负责人: Angel Cuesta Ciscar
• 金额: $ 32.52万
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX000931%2F1
• 关键词: Electrocatalysis; non; thermal; plasma; energy

The Energy Transition requires the development of technologies that allow for efficient energy storage and conversion or allow to decarbonise important industrial processes. Electrochemical processes are inherently energy efficient, but the sluggishness of some electron transfer processes (e.g., the reduction of CO2) often still makes their efficiency not high enough to overcome their cost. Plasma catalysis has also been proposed for some of these processes as it enables the activation of highly stable molecules like CO2 and N2 even at ambient temperatures through the collision of these molecules with highly energetic electrons. The method makes possible the electrification of catalytic processes, avoiding the use of toxic or hazardous chemicals. It has been recently shown that plasmas can act as the electrolyte in an electrochemical cell, which opens the doors to the exciting possibility of joining plasma and electrocatalysis to obtain the best of both worlds. However, these studies either used a flame (a hot plasma) as the electrolyte or lacked a detailed study of the response of the electrode-plasma interface to an applied potential.We propose a fundamental study of relevant electrochemical processes in plasmas aimed at identifying conditions under which the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to useful products can be achieved efficiently and with good selectivity. We will focus on Cu electrodes because copper is the only material on which the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in aqueous media results in hydrocarbons (with other materials reduction does not go beyond carbon monoxide or formic acid). The project will also involve the design of cells and methodologies to record infrared and optical emission spectra during the electrochemical experiments, with the aim of identifying intermediates and products of the reaction, thereby elucidating reaction mechanisms and product distributions and yields. In a second stage, the deep understanding of the reactions occurring at the electrode-plasma interface will be used to build a lab prototype of a plasma electrolyser converting CO2 to hydrocarbons.Although we will focus on the reduction of CO2 and the oxidation of hydrogen (the two reactions involved in a cold-plasma CO2 electrolyser aiming at producing hydrocarbons), they will set a world first, and once developed they will establish the standard for similar studies of other reactions in our and other laboratories. Furthermore, because the oxidation of hydrogen must also be one of the half reactions in other relevant processes (e.g., the fixation of nitrogen as ammonia) our work will also provide significant advance towards diversifying the technology to processes other than CO2 reduction.

能源转型需要开发技术，以实现高效的能源储存和转换，或实现重要工业过程的脱碳。电化学过程本质上是节能的，但某些电子转移过程（例如，CO2的减少）通常仍然使得它们的效率不足以克服它们的成本。等离子体催化也被提出用于这些过程中的一些，因为它使得即使在环境温度下也能够通过这些分子与高能电子的碰撞来活化高度稳定的分子如CO2和N2。该方法使催化过程的电气化成为可能，避免使用有毒或危险化学品。最近已经表明，等离子体可以作为电化学电池中的电解质，这为将等离子体和电催化结合起来以获得两全其美的令人兴奋的可能性打开了大门。然而，这些研究要么使用火焰（热等离子体）作为电解质或缺乏一个详细的研究的电极-等离子体界面的响应所施加的potential.We提出了一个基本的研究等离子体中的相关电化学过程，旨在确定条件下，可以有效地实现电化学还原CO2有用的产品，并具有良好的选择性。我们将重点介绍铜电极，因为铜是唯一一种在水介质中电化学还原CO2产生碳氢化合物的材料（其他材料的还原不会超过一氧化碳或甲酸）。该项目还将涉及电池的设计和电化学实验期间记录红外和光学发射光谱的方法，目的是确定反应的中间体和产物，从而阐明反应机理和产物分布及产率。在第二阶段，对发生在电极-等离子体界面处的反应的深入理解将用于构建将CO2转化为烃的等离子体电解器的实验室原型。（这两个反应涉及旨在生产碳氢化合物的冷等离子体CO2电解槽），他们将创造世界第一，一旦发展出来，它们将为我们和其他实验室对其他反应的类似研究建立标准。此外，由于氢气的氧化也必须是其他相关过程中的半反应之一（例如，我们的工作还将为减少二氧化碳以外的其他工艺的技术多样化提供重大进展。