Understanding and Improving Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Capture

这一变革性的研究将推动电化学二氧化碳捕获作为一种温室气体缓解技术。为了将全球变暖控制在1.5摄氏度以内，避免灾难性的气候变化，我们必须大幅减少温室气体排放。为此，英国最近承诺到2050年实现温室气体净零排放。如果英国要实现这一目标，二氧化碳捕获和储存(CCS)是一项关键技术，必须大规模部署。CCS是这样一种过程：二氧化碳首先从点源(工业过程、化石燃料发电)或直接从大气中捕获，然后被储存在地下。最先进的CCS技术使用胺分子来吸收二氧化碳。随后，必须以热能(或真空)的形式提供大量能量，以再生胺并释放纯二氧化碳进行储存，从而增加了CCS的成本。胺工艺还存在以下问题：(1)二氧化碳容量有限，(2)胺蒸发到大气中，以及(3)胺在氧气和其他污染气体中降解。本方案探讨了利用电力捕获和释放二氧化碳，作为一种更节能的CCS方法，可以克服胺的限制。在电化学二氧化碳捕集中，蓄电池或超级电容器等储能设备的充电会导致二氧化碳的选择性吸收。当设备放电时，释放出纯二氧化碳(用于随后的存储)，并回收充电过程中提供的大部分能量。初步工作表明，这项技术可能比现有方法更节能，仍有巨大的改进空间，特别是如果捕获的分子机制能够被理解和操纵的话。我们将(I)促进对电化学二氧化碳捕获的理解，(Ii)发现更有效地捕获二氧化碳的新材料和设备。具体地说，我们将重点介绍超级电容器捕获二氧化碳的电化学过程。我们将测量这些设备可以捕获的二氧化碳数量，并优化电极和电解液材料以提高性能。正确理解电化学捕获二氧化碳的分子机制可能会导致这项技术的突破。因此，该方案的一个主要推动力是对分子一级捕获机制的机械性研究。我们将使用一套实验技术来研究电极材料的化学结构，并将这些结构与其碳捕获性能相关联。我们将开展核磁共振研究，以便在捕获过程的不同阶段确定结合二氧化碳的分子形式。我们的机理研究将为设计和合成改进的电化学二氧化碳捕获材料提供信息。我们将合成具有(I)更大的二氧化碳吸收能力，(Ii)更低的再生能源需求和(Iii)更快的吸收速度的下一代材料。通过这项工作产生的新技术将被原型并开发成流动系统。开发的技术将带来清洁的经济增长，并将帮助英国实现2050年净零排放目标。ACF的研究背景与合作伙伴组成的团队和出色的机构支持相结合，将带来新的知识和技术，使英国在电化学二氧化碳捕获方面处于世界领先地位

This transformative research fellowship will advance electrochemical carbon dioxide capture as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology.To limit global warming to 1.5C and avoid catastrophic climate change we must greatly reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. To this end the UK has recently committed to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is a critical technology that must be deployed at scale if the UK is to meet this goal. CCS is a process where carbon dioxide is first captured at point sources (industrial processes, fossil fuel power) or directly from the atmosphere, before subsequently being stored underground.State of the art CCS technology uses amine molecules to absorb carbon dioxide. Subsequently a large amount of energy must be supplied in the form of heat (or a vacuum) to regenerate the amines and release pure carbon dioxide for storage, thereby increasing the cost of CCS. The amine process also suffers from (i) limited carbon dioxide capacities, (ii) amine evaporation into the atmosphere and (iii) amine degradation in the presence of oxygen and other contaminant gases.This programme explores the use of electricity to capture and release carbon dioxide as a more energy-efficient method of CCS that can overcome the limitations of amines. In electrochemical carbon dioxide capture, the charging of an energy storage device such as a battery or a supercapacitor causes the selective absorption of carbon dioxide. When the device is discharged, pure carbon dioxide is released (for subsequent storage), and much of the energy supplied during charging is recovered. Initial work suggests that this technology may be more energy-efficient than existing approaches, and there is still vast room for improvement, especially if the molecular mechanisms of capture can be understood and manipulated.We will (i) advance the understanding of electrochemical carbon dioxide capture and (ii) discover new materials and devices that capture carbon dioxide more efficiently. Specifically we will focus on electrochemical carbon dioxide capture by supercapacitors. We will measure the amount of carbon dioxide that can be captured by these devices and we will optimise the electrode and electrolyte materials to improve performance.A proper understanding of the molecular mechanism of electrochemical carbon dioxide capture may lead to breakthroughs for this technology. A key thrust of the programme is therefore mechanistic studies of the molecular-level capture mechanism. We will use a suite of experimental techniques to study the chemical structures of the electrode materials, and we will correlate these structures with their carbon capture properties. We will develop nuclear magnetic resonance studies that allow the molecular form of the bound carbon dioxide to be determined at different stages of the capture process.Our mechanistic studies will inform the design and synthesis of improved materials for electrochemical carbon dioxide capture. We will synthesise the next generation of materials with (i) larger carbon dioxide uptake capacities, (ii) lower energy requirements for regeneration and (iii) faster uptake rates. New technology generated by this work will be prototyped and developed into flow systems. The developed technology will generate clean economic growth and will help the UK meet its 2050 net-zero emissions target. The research background of ACF combined with the assembled team of partners and excellent institutional support will lead to new knowledge and technology that will make the UK world-leading in electrochemical carbon dioxide capture