Engineering redox-active electrochemically mediated carbon dioxide capture systems

With ever-increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and commitments to limit global temperatures to less than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, the need for versatile, low-cost carbon dioxide capture technologies is paramount. Electrochemically mediated carbon dioxide separation systems promise low energetics, modular scalability and ease of implementation, with direct integration to renewable energy for net-negative carbon dioxide operations. For these systems to be cost-competitive, key factors around their operation, stability and scaling need to be addressed. Energy penalties associated with redox-active species transport, gas transport and bubble formation limit the volumetric productivity and scaling potential due to their cost and footprint. Here we highlight the importance of engineering approaches towards enhancing the performance of redox-active electrochemically mediated carbon dioxide capture systems to enable their widespread implementation. This Perspective discusses electrochemically mediated carbon dioxide capture systems, which can offer lower energetics than standard thermal methods, with modular scalability. New integrated configurations can further reduce costs and improve unit productivity, while further engineering of existing cell designs will enable more rapid implementation.