Energy Conversion at the Interface

我的研究计划的主要目标是开发一种能够使用电力将二氧化碳（CO2）转化为有用产品的电解槽（即，CO或烃类）。我们的使命源于当今可再生电力的低成本，以及开发经济上可行的存储解决方案以永久支持这种低价格的需求。使用过量的可再生电力电解还原二氧化碳是引人注目的，因为基础设施已经到位，可以处理燃料和化学产品。该提案不知道应该最激烈地追求哪些CO2电解的具体输出（我们正在进行市场研究，这将为这一挑战提供清晰度），但我们寻求任何类型的CO2电解槽所需的基本科学和技术进步，以适应供应链。该提案描述了新的电催化剂、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项目中各种各样的化学、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。 该提案的第一部分是出于需要开发多金属CO2电催化剂的稳健的性能-活性关系。例如，我们将尝试将合金的成分、晶格应变和混合模式与催化选择性、效率和耐久性联系起来。这些项目的一个成功成果是能够有意地将二氧化碳转化为特定的产品（例如，CO、乙烯、丙醇）。以下部分概述了我们构建新型制备和分析工具的计划，以快速推进材料发现和系统优化的速度。我们计划利用材料打印技术与机器学习工具相结合，来生产、管理和处理大型数据集，每年测试超过106种成分。为研究原子水平上的应变量身定制的工具（例如，晶格膨胀）直至宏观水平（例如，裂纹），以及电解槽液流电池部件的快速原型。最后一节将应用前两个小插曲的学习，以帮助设计和开发一个试点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上，以实现CO2到CO的高转化率。 开发降低大气CO2浓度的创新技术是加拿大的一个优先事项，本提案所述商用CO2电解装置的成功部署将直接有助于这一举措。

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.