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

可再生能源减少了空气污染、对化石燃料的依赖和温室气体排放，但其间歇性使能源储存必不可少。此外，如果没有液体燃料，远距离或高功率需求的运输是不容易实现的。固体氧化物电解槽有可能为解决这两个问题做出贡献。固体氧化物电解是一种将电能和热能转化为化学能的高温过程。SOEC可以将自身的运行废热转化为储存的化学能，从而将电能100%转化为化学能。更令人兴奋的是，SOEC能够将外部可用热量(例如来自核电站、工业过程、太阳能或地热源)并入存储的化学能中，从而实现更低的用电量。 当电解法在发电量超过电网需求时使用可再生电力或基本负荷核电时，对环境最有利。核电的基本负荷不能随着负荷的变化而迅速上升或下降，影响太阳能发电的风能和云层也不能完全预测，可能会迅速变化。电解法还可以提供经济效益，在电力成本最低的时候用电力生产燃料，然后在电力成本最高的时候用燃料发电。与单独的电解法相比，可逆式SOEC系统不仅可以高效地制造燃料，而且与燃气轮机(GT)燃烧燃料相比，可逆式SOEC系统还能以更高的效率将燃料转化为电能，从而进一步改善电网的环境状况，因为与基于GT的发电不同，可逆式SOEC系统不会产生空气污染。 尽管有这些优势，但必须解决重大的研究挑战。其中一个挑战是重新设计SOEC以降低成本并提高其耐用性，这反过来又需要新的制造方法来制造SOEC电解液和电极层。另一个挑战是设计和制造新的燃料电极，当二氧化碳重新转化为燃料以关闭碳环时，具有高耐用性。拟议的研究计划旨在解决这些挑战，目标是提高高效、零污染SOEC储能和转换技术的耐用性和性能。

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.