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（CO2RR）将二氧化碳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的替代生产途径。以CO2为原料电化学生产乙烯和乙醇等多碳（C2+）产物具有广阔的市场、高能量密度和巨大的减排潜力，受到了广泛的关注。为了在商业应用中生产这些可再生的C2+化学品和燃料，必须设计电解槽及其包含的组件（包括催化剂，膜和电极材料）以实现高产品选择性(即。法拉第效率)，高反应速率（100毫安/平方厘米），高能效（低电压），高稳定性（1000秒h），以及反应器中CO2原料的高利用率。虽然实验室规模的二氧化碳电解槽在选择性、反应速率和能源效率方面取得了很大进展，但对二氧化碳利用的关注很少——通常，只有一小部分进入反应器的二氧化碳转化为产品。这种低效率的利用需要不可行的二氧化碳分离量和原料成本。我们的新型可渗透二氧化碳回收层（PCRL）结合膜电极组件（MEA）反应器，使二氧化碳还原产品的单次二氧化碳利用率（SPU）达到创纪录的90%。这笔资金将用于开发下一代prcrl MEA的放大原型，由于新材料的使用，该原型具有更大的稳定性，以及更好的选择性、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伙伴关系和投资，以加速该平台向商业化的转化。

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.