Energy Conversion at the Interface

我的研究计划的主要目标是开发一种能够利用电力将二氧化碳(CO2)转化为有用的产品(即CO或碳氢化合物)的高效率和高选择性的电解槽。我们的使命的动机是今天可再生电力的成本低得惊人，以及开发经济上可行的存储解决方案的需要，以便永久支持如此低的价格。利用多余的可再生电力电解减少二氧化碳是令人信服的，因为处理燃料和化学产品的基础设施已经到位。这项提议与应该最积极地追求二氧化碳电解的具体产出的主题无关(我们正在进行一项市场研究，这将为这一挑战提供清晰的答案)，但我们寻求任何类型的二氧化碳电解槽适应供应链所需的基础科学和技术进步。这份提案描述了新型电催化剂、分析工具和电解槽流动池的设计，以帮助我们实现实现商业上可行的CO2电解槽的更大使命。我们的目标是利用我的计划中的各种化学、工程、建模和分析专业知识，并将利用与学术和工业合作伙伴的许多合作关系。*本提案的第一部分是出于为多金属二氧化碳电催化剂开发可靠的性能-活性关系的需要。例如，我们将尝试将合金的组成、晶格应变和混合模式与催化选择性、效率和耐用性联系起来。这些项目的一个成功成果是能够有意识地将二氧化碳的转化率调整为特定产品(例如，一氧化碳、乙烯、丙醇)。以下部分概述了我们建立新的准备和分析工具的计划，以快速提高材料发现和系统优化的速度。我们计划利用与机器学习工具相结合的材料打印技术来生产、管理和处理涉及每年测试&gt；106作文的大型数据集。为研究从原子水平(如晶格膨胀)到催化膜的宏观水平(如裂纹)的应变，以及电解槽流量电池组件的快速成型，提出了量身定制的工具。最后一节将应用从前两个小插曲中学到的知识来帮助设计和开发一个中试的二氧化碳电解槽系统。这项研究将建立在我们最近设计的气相电解槽系统的基础上，该系统实现了二氧化碳到CO的高转化率。*开发降低大气二氧化碳浓度的创新技术是加拿大的优先事项，本提案中描述的商用二氧化碳电解槽的成功部署将直接有助于这一倡议。

The primary objective of my research program is to develop an electrolyzer capable of using electricity to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful products (i.e., CO or hydrocarbons) with high efficiency and selectivity. Our mission is motivated by the strikingly low cost of renewable electricity available today, and the need to develop economically viable storage solutions in order to support such low prices in perpetuity. The electrolytic reduction of CO2 using excess renewable electricity is compelling because the infrastructure is already in place to handle the fuel and chemical products. This proposal is agnostic to the subject of which specific outputs of CO2 electrolysis should be pursued most vehemently (we are engaged in a market study which will provide clarity to this challenge), but we seek fundamental science and technology advances that are required for any type of CO2 electrolyzer to fit in a supply chain. This proposal describes the design of new electrocatalysts, analytical tools, and electrolyzer flow cells to help us achieve our larger mission of realizing a commercially viable CO2 electrolyzer. Our objectives take advantage of the diverse range of chemical, engineering, modeling and analytical expertise within my program, and will draw upon many collaborative relationships with academic and industrial partners.*** ***The first section of this proposal is motivated by the need to develop robust property-activity relationships for multi-metallic CO2 electrocatalysts. We will, for example, attempt to link composition, lattice strain and mixing patterns of alloys to catalytic selectivity, efficiency and durability. A successful outcome of these projects is the ability to deliberately tune the conversion of CO2 towards a specific product (e.g., CO, ethylene, propanol). The following section outlines our plans for building novel preparative and analytical tools to rapidly advance the rate of materials discovery and systems optimization. We plan to leverage materials printing techniques coupled to machine learning tools to produce, manage and process large data sets involving the testing of >106 compositions annually. Tools tailored for investigating how strain at the atomic level (e.g., lattice expansion) through to the macroscopic level (e.g., cracks) of catalytic films are proposed, as is the rapid prototyping of electrolyzer flow cell components. The last section will apply the learnings from the previous two vignettes to aid the design and development of a pilot CO2 electrolyzer system. This research will build on a gas-phase electrolyzer system that we recently designed to achieve high rates of CO2-to-CO conversion.******The development of innovative technologies that reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations is a priority for Canada, and the successful deployment of a commercial CO2 electrolyzer described in this proposal will contribute directly to this initiative.