Microfluidic devices for higher throughput electrosynthesis and flow battery characterization

防止进一步的全球变暖是加拿大和世界迫切需要解决的问题。解决这一问题需要实现两大目标：(1)减少未来的二氧化碳排放；(2)消除大气中的二氧化碳以抵消不可避免的剩余排放。拟议的研究计划通过加速可持续能源储存和二氧化碳电化学转化为增值产品的研究方法来解决这两个挑战。采用太阳能和风能技术可以有效地减少二氧化碳的排放。然而，低成本的电力存储是目前广泛采用这些技术的主要瓶颈。液流电池是一种新兴的电网电力存储解决方案，但需要更便宜、更持久的电解质才能在商业上可行。该研究的第一个目标是通过更全面、更高通量的测试来提供更高质量的数据和更快的学习率，从而加快液流电池的开发。这将通过开发具有成本效益的电化学诊断设备来实现，以跟踪电池运行过程中的电解质特性，从而有助于了解和防止电池故障。对新型液流电池电解质的加速测试将使研究人员能够快速识别出那些具有太阳能和风能商业电网存储所需的20年使用寿命的电池。对于不可避免的二氧化碳排放，从二氧化碳中生产增值化学品是将环境挑战转化为经济机遇的最直接方式。拟议研究的第二个目标是加速发现将二氧化碳转化为具有商业价值的化学品的材料。这将通过设计和制造具有集成传感器的电化学反应器来实现，该传感器可用于实时监测和控制反应条件。可靠的反应器将使材料和化学工程研究人员能够快速对催化剂进行基准测试，并确定商业上可行的反应-催化剂组合。反过来，实现经过验证的二氧化碳转化方法将刺激加拿大的创新经济，并将该国定位为绿色化学的领导者。证明这些研究方法的可行性将有助于将材料和化学工程领域转向自动化方法，从而加速更广泛的材料发现。

Preventing further global warming is an urgent issue for Canada and the world. Addressing it will require accomplishing two broad goals: (1) reducing future CO2 emissions, and (2) removing atmospheric CO2 to offset unavoidable emissions that remain. The proposed research program addresses both challenges by accelerating research methods for sustainable energy storage and for electrochemical conversion of CO2 to value-added products. The adoption of solar and wind energy technology can effectively reduce CO2 emissions. Yet, cost-effective storage of electricity is currently the major bottleneck to the widespread adoption of these technologies. Flow batteries are a promising emerging solution for grid electricity storage but require cheaper and longer-lasting electrolytes to be commercially viable. The first objective of the proposed research is to expedite flow battery development by enabling more comprehensive and higher throughput testing to provide better quality data and a faster learning rate. This will be achieved by the development of cost-effective electrochemical diagnostic devices to track electrolyte properties during battery operation and thereby help to understand and prevent battery failure. Accelerated testing of new flow battery electrolytes will allow researchers to quickly identify those with the potential for the 20-year service life required for commercial grid storage of solar and wind energy. For unavoidable CO2 emissions, producing value-added chemicals from CO2 is the most direct way to turn an environmental challenge into an economic opportunity. The second objective of the proposed research is to accelerate materials discovery for the conversion of CO2 to commercially valuable chemicals. This will be achieved through the design and fabrication of electrochemical reactors with integrated sensors optimized for real-time monitoring and control of reaction conditions. Reliable reactors will allow materials and chemical engineering researchers to quickly benchmark catalysts and to identify commercially viable reaction-catalyst combinations. In turn, achieving proven methods for the transformation of CO2 will stimulate Canada's innovation economy and position the country as a leader in green chemistry. Demonstrating the viability of these research methods will help shift the materials and chemical engineering field towards automated approaches that will accelerate materials discovery even more broadly.