Design of an electrochemical cell for In-Situ infrared spectroscopy of the carbon dioxide reduction reaction
J.H. Kroes (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Wilson A. Smith – Mentor
Nienke Firet – Mentor
Bernard Dam – Graduation committee member
R. Kortlever – Graduation committee member
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Abstract
The worlds energy demand is increasing however, the majority of the energy supply is still based on fossil fuels. The consumption of fossil fuels results in the emission of carbon dioxide which is one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for the ongoing climate change. In order to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions, more and more energy is produced in a re-newable way. Mainly from solar and wind energy. This energy is however intermittent in char-acter and comes in the form of electricity. To overcome the intermittency, the excess pro-duced electricity has to be stored in an efficient reversible way, so that the energy can re-leased again when it is needed. One possible solution that tackles both problems is the elec-trochemical reduction of carbon dioxide in aqueous electrolytes into highly valuable chemicals, or so called solar fuels. In this study, a new infrared spectroelectrochemical cell with an easy exchangeable electrocatalyst is developed to study the reaction mechanism on a silver cata-lyst in 0.1 M KCl and 0.1 M KHCO3 electrolytes at applied potentials of -1.4, -1.6 and -1.8 V vs a Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The performance of the new developed cell is compared to the already proven ATR cell configuration. Investigation of the infrared signal strength showed high infrared signals at angles of incidence of the infrared beam between 30° and 45°. The measured infrared absorption spectra in the thin layer flow cell show three absorption bands which are also present in the obtained infrared absorption spectra of the ATR cell. In the ATR spectra however, three further infrared absorption bands can be observed. Due to the lower number of absorption bands present in the FTIR spectra measured in the new designed thin layer flow cell, it can be concluded that despite the high IR signal no new insights on the reac-tion mechanism of the carbon dioxide reduction reaction can be acquired.