Smart manufacturing inspired approach to research, development, and scale-up of electrified chemical manufacturing systems.

As renewable electricity becomes cost competitive with fossil fuel energy sources and environmental concerns increase, the transition to electrified chemical and fuel synthesis pathways becomes increasingly desirable. However, electrochemical systems have traditionally taken many decades to reach commercial scales. Difficulty in scaling up electrochemical synthesis processes comes primarily from difficulty in decoupling and controlling simultaneously the effects of intrinsic kinetics and charge, heat, and mass transport within electrochemical reactors.

Electrochemical Oxidation of Methane to Methanol on Electrodeposited Transition Metal Oxides.

Electrochemical partial oxidation of methane to methanol is a promising approach to the transformation of stranded methane resources into a high-value, easy-to-transport fuel or chemical. Transition metal oxides are potential electrocatalysts for this transformation. However, a comprehensive and systematic study of the dependence of methane activation rates and methanol selectivity on catalyst morphology and experimental operating parameters has not been realized.