NSERC I2I Phase 1: Local regeneration of CO2 to achieve scalable electroreduction to multi-carbon products

电化学二氧化碳还原反应（CO2 RR）将CO2排放转化为燃料和化学原料。当由可再生能源提供动力时，该技术为燃料和原料化学品提供了碳中和或负替代生产途径。从CO2电化学生产多碳（C2+）产物，如乙烯和乙醇，由于这些分子的大的可寻址市场、高能量密度和大的排放避免潜力而引起了广泛关注。为了在商业实施中生产这些可再生C2+化学品和燃料，必须设计电解槽和所含组件（包括催化剂、膜和电极材料）以实现高产物选择性（即法拉第效率）、高反应速率（100 mA/cm 2）、高能量效率（低电压）、高稳定性（1000 h）和反应器中CO2原料的高利用率。虽然实验室规模的CO2电解槽在选择性、反应速率和能源效率方面取得了很大进展，但对CO2利用率的关注很少-通常，只有一小部分进入反应器的CO2转化为产品。这种低效的利用需要不可行的CO2分离量和原料成本。我们的新型可渗透CO2再循环层（PCRL）结合膜电极组件（MEA）反应器实现了创纪录的>90%的单程CO2利用率（SPU），用于CO2减排产品。这笔赠款将使下一代PCRL MEA的扩大原型的开发具有扩展的稳定性，由于新材料，以及改进的选择性，能源效率和SPU指标，优于现有的CO2到C2+电解槽。这些成果和技术的改进将吸引战略合作伙伴关系和投资，以加速该平台的商业化。

The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR) converts CO2 emissions into fuels and chemical feedstocks. When powered by renewable energy sources, the technology provides a carbon neutral or negative alternative production pathway for fuels and feedstock chemicals. The electrochemical production of multi-carbon (C2+) products, such as ethylene and ethanol, from CO2 has attracted much attention due to the large addressable markets, high energy density of these molecules, and large emission avoidance potential. To produce these renewable C2+ chemicals and fuels in a commercial implementation, the electrolyzers and contained components (including the catalyst, membrane, and electrode materials) must be designed to achieve high product selectivity (ie. Faradaic efficiency), high reaction rates (100s mA/cm2), high energy efficiency (low voltages), high stability (1000s of h), and high utilization of the CO2 feedstock in the reactor. While much progress has been achieved in selectivity, reaction rates, and energy efficiency in laboratory scale CO2 electrolyzers, there has been little attention towardCO2 utilization - typically, only a small fraction of the CO2 fed into the reactors is converted into products. This inefficient utilization requires an unfeasible amount of CO2 separation and feedstock costs. Our new permeable CO2 recycling layer (PCRL) incorporated membrane electrode assembly (MEA) reactor has enabled a record >90% single pass CO2 utilization (SPU) toward CO2 reduction products. This grant will enable the development of a scaled-up prototype of the next-generation PCRL MEA with extended stability due to new materials, as well as improved selectivity, energy efficiency, and SPU metrics that outperform existing CO2 to C2+ electrolyzers. These results and improvements to the technology will attract strategic partnerships and investments needed to accelerate the translation of this platform to commercialization.