Designing Electrocatalysts via Atomic Layer Deposition For the Carbon Dioxide Reduction and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Abstract

The severe effects of climate change, along with the rising global energy demand, have driven extensive research efforts into the development of sustainable technologies for energy generation, conversion, storage, distribution, and CO2 removal from various industrial sectors. Electrocatalysis is expected to play a pivotal role in achieving these goals, as it can utilize intermitent renewable energy sources such as wind, geothermal, hydropower and solar energy, together with CO2 directly captured from the air or from flue gas, and H2O, to store energy into chemical building blocks. Meanwhile, the catalyst is indispensable in these electrochemical conversions, as it enables the reduction of the reaction energy barrier, thereby lowering the electrochemical overpotential required to initiate reactions. Moreover, it facilitates the direction of reactions along specific pathways without itself being consumed in the process, thereby enhancing reaction rates and improving the efficiency. This thesis focuses on the electrocatalysts used for CO2 reduction and water spli􀆫ng, and uses atomic layer deposition (ALD) and molecular layer deposition (MLD) to precisely control the catalyst structure and protect the catalysts from degradation and poisoning...