Monteiro Mariana C O, Philips Matthew F, Schouten Klaas Jan P, Koper Marc T M
Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Avantium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 16;12(1):4943. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24936-6.
The electrochemical reduction of CO to CO is a promising technology for replacing production processes employing fossil fuels. Still, low energy efficiencies hinder the production of CO at commercial scale. CO electrolysis has mainly been performed in neutral or alkaline media, but recent fundamental work shows that high selectivities for CO can also be achieved in acidic media. Therefore, we investigate the feasibility of CO electrolysis at pH 2-4 at indrustrially relevant conditions, using 10 cm gold gas diffusion electrodes. Operating at current densities up to 200 mA cm, we obtain CO faradaic efficiencies between 80-90% in sulfate electrolyte, with a 30% improvement of the overall process energy efficiency, in comparison with neutral media. Additionally, we find that weakly hydrated cations are crucial for accomplishing high reaction rates and enabling CO electrolysis in acidic media. This study represents a step towards the application of acidic electrolyzers for CO electroreduction.
将二氧化碳电化学还原为一氧化碳是一种很有前景的技术，有望取代使用化石燃料的生产工艺。然而，低能量效率阻碍了一氧化碳的大规模商业生产。一氧化碳电解主要在中性或碱性介质中进行，但最近的基础研究表明，在酸性介质中也能实现对一氧化碳的高选择性。因此，我们使用10厘米的金气体扩散电极，研究了在工业相关条件下pH值为2至4时进行一氧化碳电解的可行性。在高达200 mA/cm²的电流密度下运行时，我们在硫酸盐电解质中获得了80%至90%的一氧化碳法拉第效率，与中性介质相比，整体工艺能量效率提高了30%。此外，我们发现弱水化阳离子对于实现高反应速率和在酸性介质中进行一氧化碳电解至关重要。这项研究朝着将酸性电解槽应用于一氧化碳电还原迈出了一步。
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