Local ionic transport enables selective PGM-free bipolar membrane electrode assembly.

Bipolar membranes in electrochemical CO conversion cells enable different reaction environments in the CO-reduction and O-evolution compartments. Under ideal conditions, water-splitting in the bipolar membrane allows for platinum-group-metal-free anode materials and high CO utilizations. In practice, however, even minor unwanted ion crossover limits stability to short time periods.

Anion-exchange membranes with internal microchannels for water control in CO electrolysis.

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (COR) poses substantial promise to convert abundant feedstocks (water and CO) to value-added chemicals and fuels using solely renewable energy. However, recent membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) devices that have been demonstrated to achieve high rates of COR are limited by water management within the cell, due to both consumption of water by the COR reaction and electro-osmotic fluxes that transport water from the cathode to the anode. Additionally, crossover of potassium (K) ions poses concern at high current densities where saturation and precipitation of the salt ions can degrade cell performance.

Continuum Modeling of Porous Electrodes for Electrochemical Synthesis.

Electrochemical synthesis possesses substantial promise to utilize renewable energy sources to power the conversion of abundant feedstocks to value-added commodity chemicals and fuels. Of the potential system architectures for these processes, only systems employing 3-D structured porous electrodes have the capacity to achieve the high rates of conversion necessary for industrial scale. However, the phenomena and environments in these systems are not well understood and are challenging to probe experimentally.

Engineering Catalyst-Electrolyte Microenvironments to Optimize the Activity and Selectivity for the Electrochemical Reduction of CO on Cu and Ag.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (COR) driven by renewably generated electricity (e.g., solar and wind) offers a promising means for reusing the CO released during the production of cement, steel, and aluminum as well as the production of ammonia and methanol.

Understanding Multi-Ion Transport Mechanisms in Bipolar Membranes.

Bipolar membranes (BPMs) have the potential to become critical components in electrochemical devices for a variety of electrolysis and electrosynthesis applications. Because they can operate under large pH gradients, BPMs enable favorable environments for electrocatalysis at the individual electrodes. Critical to the implementation of BPMs in these devices is understanding the kinetics of water dissociation that occurs within the BPM as well as the co- and counter-ion crossover through the BPM, which both present significant obstacles to developing efficient and stable BPM-electrolyzers.