CBE Colloquia - Pure-water-fed Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to Valuable Chemicals
Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：
Renewable electricity-powered electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECO2R) holds promise for producing valuable fuels and feedstocks; however, the selective generation of economically desirable products, such as ethylene (C2H4), remains challenging. C2H4 is crucial for plastics, solvents, and cosmetics, and there is currently no direct CO2 reduction to C2H4 in the chemical industry. The main obstacle to ECO2R is carbonate formation, leading to low carbon conversion, high energy usage, and poor system stability in alkaline and neutral reactors. A new pure-H2O-fed membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA) electrolysis system for ECO2R-to-C2H4 using a high-performance step-facet-rich Cu catalyst is presented. This system eliminates carbonate formation and crossover. ECO2R was scaled up in a 6-MEA-cell stack with a total current of 10 A under pure H2O, achieving a Faradaic efficiency of ~50% toward C2H4 and a system lifetime of over 1000 hours.
Prof Shu Ping Lau is a Chair Professor of the Department of Applied Physics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prof Lau is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has published over 400 journal papers, with more than 33,000 citations, and has an H-index of 90. Prof. Lau’s current research focuses on nanomaterials and energy materials, with a primary emphasis on synthesizing 2D materials for optoelectronic, electrocatalysis, and energy storage applications. He is currently working on several projects related to green energy, including the development of novel electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions in neutral media and a scalable electrochemical cell for converting CO2 to valuable chemicals.