Nature-inspired electrocatalytic devices for sustainable, intensified production

我们在CNIE的树型、分层结构催化剂和流体分布器以及肺型氢燃料电池方面的工作，证明了加强催化和电化学过程的巨大机会：最大限度地提高热力学效率、催化性能，并促进可扩展的紧凑型制造。此外，以一种受自然启发的方式波动流体流动，而不是使用恒定的流量，可以使过程更具结构性和弹性。该项目将探索这种受自然启发的电化学生产和二氧化碳减排方法。我们将利用我们、CNIE和该学生在催化和材料科学方面的经验，运用我们系统的自然启发设计方法，将可控纳米约束效应在催化、催化剂孔网络分层结构和反应器流动路径中的优势与脉动流体动力学相结合，以提高整体设备的效率和可靠性。迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在一个层面上，通常是纳米尺度；综合工程方法包含了多尺度空间和动态域，大自然使用它来“强化”其过程，使其具有可扩展性和健壮性，应该在有用的尺度上显著影响可持续生产。关键目标将是将这种方法应用于电化学流动反应器，并利用有前途的催化纳米结构材料来减少二氧化碳。

Our work in the CNIE on tree-inspired, hierarchically structured catalysts and fluid distributors, and on lung-inspired hydrogen fuel cells, has demonstrated the tremendous opportunities to intensify catalytic and electrochemical processes: maximise thermodynamic efficiency, catalytic performance, and facilitate scalable, compact manufacturing. Furthermore, fluctuating fluid flow in a nature-inspired way, rather than using constant flowrates, can make processes more structured and resilient. This project will explore such nature-inspired methodologies for electrochemical production and CO2 reduction. We will use our, the CNIE's, and the student's experience in catalysis and materials science, and apply our systematic nature-inspired design methodology, to combine the advantages of controlled nano-confinement effects in catalysis, hierarchical structuring of the catalyst pore network and reactor flow paths, with pulsating fluid dynamics so as to increase overall device efficiency and reliability. Hitherto, most research focuses at one level, often the nanoscale; an integrated engineering approach that embraces the multiscale spatial and dynamic domains, which nature uses to "intensify" its processes and make them scalable and robust, should significantly impact sustainable production at useful scales. Key targets will be the application of this methodology for electrochemical flow reactors, and to leverage promising catalytic nanostructured materials for CO2 reduction.