An Interfacial Engineering Approach toward Operation of a Porous Solid Electrolyte CO2 Electrolyzer

Abstract

Waste CO₂ can be repurposed as a carbon feedstock for synthesizing valuable chemicals via CO₂ electrolysis. Porous solid electrolyte (PSE) CO₂ electrolysis has been demonstrated as an economically viable method to produce high purity products. This work applies an interfacial engineering approach to determine key factors to improve performance in PSE CO₂ electrolyzers. We standardize the assembly by binding the ionic resin into an ionomer wafer and utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to design gaskets for uniform fluid flow. We employ the distribution of relaxation times (DRT) method to determine that anionic-conducting interfaces are the primary contributor to energy losses. To address this, we demonstrate that enhancing the contact between the cathode and the anion exchange membrane (AEM) and the AEM-ionic resin interface allows for low overpotential in deionized water operation.