Modeling the Performance of an Integrated Battery and Electrolyzer System

Both daily and seasonal fluctuations of renewable power sources will require large-scale energy storage technologies. A recently developed integrated battery and electrolyzer system, called battolyser, fulfills both time-scale requirements. Here, we develop a macroscopic COMSOL Multiphysics model to quantify the energetic efficiency of the...

Electroreduction of CO₂/CO to C₂Products: Process Modeling, Downstream Separation, System Integration, and Economic Analysis

Direct electrochemical reduction of CO2 to C2 products such as ethylene is more efficient in alkaline media, but it suffers from parasitic loss of reactants due to (bi)carbonate formation. A two-step process where the CO2 is first electrochemically reduced to CO and subsequently converted to desired C2 products has the potential to overcome...

Electrochemical Reduction of CO₂to Oxalic Acid: Experiments, Process Modeling, and Economics

We performed H-cell and flow cell experiments to study the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to oxalic acid (OA) on a lead (Pb) cathode in various nonaqueous solvents. The effects of anolyte, catholyte, supporting electrolyte, temperature, water content, and cathode potential on the Faraday efficiency (FE), current density (CD), and product...

Surface Coverage as an Important Parameter for Predicting Selectivity Trends in Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction

The electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is important for a sustainable future. Key insights into the reaction pathways have been obtained by density functional theory (DFT) analysis, but so far, DFT has been unable to give an overall understanding of selectivity trends without important caveats. We show that an unconsidered...

Unravelling the Effect of Activators used in The Synthesis of Biomass-Derived Carbon Electrocatalysts on the Electrocatalytic Performance for CO₂ Reduction

N-doped carbon materials can be efficient and cost-effective catalysts for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). Activators are often used in the synthesis process to increase the specific surface area and porosity of these carbon materials. However, owing to the diversity of activators and the differences...

Tuning the Properties of N-Doped Biochar for Selective CO₂ Electroreduction to CO

Nitrogen-doped (N-doped) carbon catalysts have been widely studied for electrochemical CO₂ reduction to CO. However, the correlation between the physicochemical properties of N-doped carbon catalysts and their electrocatalytic performance for the CO₂RR is still unclear. Herein, a series of N-doped biochar catalysts with...

A Quantitative Analysis of Electrochemical CO2 Reduction on Copper in Organic Amide and Nitrile-Based Electrolytes

Aqueous electrolytes used in CO2 electroreduction typically have a CO2 solubility of around 34 mM under ambient conditions, contributing to mass transfer limitations in the system. Non-aqueous electrolytes exhibit higher CO2 solubility (by 5–8-fold) and also provide possibilities to suppress the undesired hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). On...