Sustainable liquid fuels from CO2 electroreduction

ended

Fossil fuels have been crucial for the prosperity of human society since the industrial revolution, but have also brought about many critical issues, such as global warming. To meet the ambitious goals set out in the Paris Agreement, it is imperative to explore sustainable fuel sources. Liquid fuels produced from renewable-electricity-driven CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) are promising candidates because they simultaneously allow for a carbon-neutral energy cycle and the storage of renewable yet intermittent energy. Due to its high energy density and suitable octane number, propanol is one of the most desired products from CO2RR as direct fuels and fuel additives. However, current state-of-the-art catalysts do not exhibit more than 15% selectivity for propanol, which is a huge impediment towards the practical adoption of CO2-to-propanol electrolysis. Raising the selectivity requires intricate knowledge of what catalyst descriptors drive propanol formation, in order to predict and discover ideal catalyst/system combinations, which are the objectives of this proposal. To achieve these goals, the optimum electrode-electrolyte interface will be identified based on well-defined single-crystal-electrode experiments; reaction intermediates and pathways will be identified and studied by in situ spectroscopy methods and DFT calculations; theory-guided-designed nanocatalysts will be synthesized and subsequently integrated into an optimized CO2RR electrolyser to produce propanol at industrially relevant current densities. Through successful completion of the proposed research, an efficient CO2-to-propanol electrolysis system will be developed together with an in-depth understanding of CO2RR mechanism.