Carbon Dioxide and Water Reduction by Co-Electrolysis with High Electrical Efficiency

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Renewable energy decreases air pollution, fossil fuel dependence, and greenhouse gas emissions, but its intermittent nature makes energy storage essential. In addition, transportation over long distances or with high power needs is not easily achieved without liquid fuels. Solid oxide electrolysis cells have the potential to contribute to the solution of both of these problems. Solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) is a high-temperature process that converts electrical and thermal energy into chemical energy. SOECs can convert their own waste heat of operation into stored chemical energy, allowing 100% conversion of electrical to chemical energy. Even more exciting is the ability of SOECs to incorporate externally-available heat (e.g. from a nuclear power plant, industrial process, solar, or geothermal source) into stored chemical energy, allowing for even lower electricity use.******Electrolysis is most environmentally beneficial when it uses renewable electricity or baseload nuclear power at times when electricity production exceeds the grid demand. Nuclear baseload cannot be rapidly ramped up or down in response to changing loads, and wind power and cloud cover affecting solar power are not fully predictable and can change rapidly. Electrolysis can also provide economic benefits by using electricity to produce fuel at times when electricity costs are lowest, and then using the fuel to generate electricity at times when the electricity cost is highest. Reversible SOEC systems can further enhance the environmental profile of the grid compared to electrolysis alone by not only making fuel with high efficiency, but also by converting the fuel back to electricity at much higher efficiencies compared to burning the fuel in a gas turbine (GT), since reversible SOECs generate no air pollution, unlike GT-based power generation.******Despite these advantages, significant research challenges must be solved. One such challenge is the re-design of SOECs to lower their cost and improve their durability, which in turn requires new manufacturing methods for the fabrication of SOEC electrolyte and electrode layers. Another challenge is the design and fabrication of new fuel electrodes with high durability when converting carbon dioxide back into fuel to close the carbon loop. The proposed research program tackles these challenges, with the goal of improving the durability and performance of high-efficiency, zero-pollution SOEC energy storage and conversion technology.