Viable Electrochemical System for Sustainable Fuel and Chemical Production

加拿大80%以上的温室气体排放与能源有关。最需要的是发展，以实现可持续能源，并在过渡期间利用二氧化碳。这个研究项目针对这两个领域；它提供了一个独特的研究环境，在其中解决从二氧化碳和生物质废物中可再生生产燃料和化学原料的关键应用和基本挑战。在加拿大，在高发电量和低需求时期，多余的绿色电力，例如水力发电，为能源储存方法提供了机会。电化学CO2还原反应（CO2RR）有望实现电能转化为燃料和二氧化碳减排，从而解决能源危机和全球变暖问题。电化学系统包括一个电子供体侧，称为阴极，通过CO2RR还原CO2；一个电子受体侧，称为阳极，其中析氧反应（OER）是最方便的反应。然而，OER需要非常高的应用潜力，并且产生的氧气不是有价值的原料。阴极的低产物选择性和阳极所需的巨大电位显著降低了CO2RR体系的能量转换效率。因此，开发活性电催化剂对提高电催化性能至关重要。此外，需要付出很大的努力来降低阳极侧的外加电位。该项目旨在开发纳米材料和一种新的电化学系统，以提高CO2RR系统的能源效率，并为生物质增值提供绿色途径。它将用高效的生物质废物氧化反应（BWOR）取代OER，以降低细胞电位并产生比氧气更有价值的化学物质。该技术将把二氧化碳转化为乙醇和丙醇等碳氢化合物，并将黑液和木质素等低质量生物质废弃物转化为增值化学品。今天，这些过程依赖于具有显著碳足迹和负面环境影响的化石燃料来源。这个多学科项目将基于密度泛函理论（DFT）计算开发精确的分子水平模型，通过拉曼等原位光谱测量增强对催化反应的理解。这将有助于实现目标电催化纳米材料的合理设计。此外，它将采用机器学习（ML）来加速发现具有优异催化活性和选择性的材料。通过该项目，将开发一种具有优化组件和反应条件的新型商业可行的电化学系统，以适应低应用潜力的CO2RR和BWOR。这项技术将是朝着实际实现二氧化碳减排和生物质废物升级迈出的一步，并将加速我们向可持续环境和经济的过渡。

More than 80 per-cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada is energy-related. Development is most needed to enable sustainable energy sources, as well as utilize CO2 in the interim. This research program targets both of these areas; it enables a unique research environment within which to address critical applied and fundamental challenges in renewably production of fuels and chemical feedstocks from carbon dioxide and biomass wastes. Excess green electricity in Canada, e.g. hydroelectricity, during periods of high generation and low demand presents the opportunity for energy storage methods. Electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) holds promise for electricity-conversion-into-fuels and CO2 mitigation, enabling thereby to address the issues of energy crisis and global warming. The electrochemical system includes an electron-donor side called cathode which reduces CO2 via the CO2RR, and an electron-acceptor side called anode in which the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the most convenient reaction. The OER, however, requires a very high applied potential and produces oxygen which is not a valuable feedstock. The low product selectivity in the cathode and huge potential required in the anode significantly decrease the energy conversion efficiency of the CO2RR system. Developing active electrocatalysts is thus paramount to improve the electrocatalytic performance. Moreover, significant effort is needed to decrease the applied potential in the anode side. This program seeks to develop nanomaterials and a novel electrochemical system to improve the energy efficiency in CO2RR systems, also to provide a green route for biomass valorization. It will replace the OER with efficient biomass waste oxidation reaction (BWOR) to decrease the cell potential and produce more valuable chemicals than oxygen. This technology will convert CO2 into hydrocarbons such as ethanol and propanol, and upgrade low quality biomass wastes such as black liquor and lignin to value-added chemicals. These processes, today, rely on fossil fuel sources with significant carbon footprint and negative environmental impacts. This multidisciplinary program will develop accurate molecular-level models based on the density functional theory (DFT) computations that with in-situ spectroscopic measurements such as Raman enhance the understanding of the catalytic reactions. It will contribute thereby to enabling rational design of targeted electrocatalytic nanomaterials. In addition, it will employ machine learning (ML) to accelerate the discovery of materials with superior catalytic activity and selectivity. Through this program, a new commercially viable electrochemical system with optimized components and reaction conditions will be developed to accommodate both CO2RR and BWOR at a low applied potential. This technology will be a step toward practical realization of CO2RR and biomass waste upgrading and will accelerate our transition to a sustainable environment and economy.