News & Events

Electrode and Membrane Designs for Converting CO2 Into Chemicals and Fuels

Date: 
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 - 17:00 to 18:00
Speaker: 
Ben Mowbray
Affiliation: 
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
Event Category: 
IDG - Inorganic Discussion Group
Host: 
Curtis Berlinguette
Location: 
Chemistry D300

IDG seminars will be held in D300 and also available on zoom this term. Please contact for zoom details.

Electrochemical CO2 reduction is a sustainable method of generating chemicals and fuels using only CO2, water, and electricity as inputs. CO2 electrolysis has the potential to displace petrochemical manufacturing processes, however, scaling this technology will require electrolysers that efficiently mediate CO2 reduction at industrially-relevant rates. Effective electrolysers must simultaneously manage electro(chemical) reactions and the transport of CO2, water, and conducting ions in order to convert CO2 into products and minimize side reactions. This presentation describes how to design porous gas diffusion electrodes and polymer electrolyte membranes to manage these critical

processes. We show how the chemical and physical properties of electrodes and membranes can be tailored to increase CO2 reduction activity in industrially-relevant reactor architectures. This work establishes design principles for CO2 electrolysers and demonstrates techniques which can be applied

to materials for other electrochemical technologies.