Thermodynamics of Electrochemical Marine Inorganic Carbon Removal.

In recent years, marine carbon removal technologies have gained attention as a means of reducing greenhouse gas concentrations. One family of these technologies is electrochemical systems, which employ Faradaic reactions to drive alkalinity-swings and enable dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) removal as gaseous CO or as solid minerals. In this work, we develop a thermodynamic framework to estimate upper bounds on performance for Faradaic DIC removal systems.

Hierarchically conductive electrodes unlock stable and scalable CO electrolysis.

Electrochemical CO reduction has emerged as a promising CO utilization technology, with Gas Diffusion Electrodes becoming the predominant architecture to maximize performance. Such electrodes must maintain robust hydrophobicity to prevent flooding, while also ensuring high conductivity to minimize ohmic losses. Intrinsic material tradeoffs have led to two main architectures: carbon paper is highly conductive but floods easily; while expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene is flooding resistant but non-conductive, limiting electrode sizes to just 5 cm.

Redox-Mediated pH Swing Systems for Electrochemical Carbon Capture.

ConspectusThe rising levels of atmospheric CO and their resulting impacts on the climate have necessitated the urgent development of effective carbon capture technologies. Electrochemical carbon capture systems have emerged as a potential alternative to conventional thermal systems based on amine solutions due to their modularity, energy efficiency, and lower environmental impact. Among these, aqueous electrochemical pH swing systems that capitalize on the pH dependence of dissolved inorganic carbon (CO/HCO/CO) speciation to capture and release CO are of particular interest as they can be flexible in system design and in the range of electrochemical potentials used as well as being environmentally benign.

Capture and electrochemical conversion of CO in molten alkali metal borate-carbonate blends.

A family of blended compositions of molten mixed lithium and sodium borate (LiNaBO) and eutectic lithium-potassium carbonate (LiKCO) salts has been introduced as reversible carbon dioxide absorbents and as media for CO electrolysis for carbon conversion. Material properties, temperature effects and kinetics of CO uptake were examined. Li, Na borate can absorb up to 7.

Thermocapillary dewetting-based dynamic spatial light modulator.

Dynamic spatial light modulators (SLMs) are capable of precisely modulating a beam of light by tuning the phase or intensity of an array of pixels in parallel. They can be utilized in applications ranging from image projection to beam front aberration and microscopic particle manipulation with optical tweezers. However, conventional dynamic SLMs are typically incompatible with high-power sources, as they contain easily damaged optically absorbing components.

Obtaining Thickness-Limited Electrospray Deposition for 3D Coating.

Electrospray processing utilizes the balance of electrostatic forces and surface tension within a charged spray to produce charged microdroplets with a narrow dispersion in size. In electrospray deposition, each droplet carries a small quantity of suspended material to a target substrate. Past electrospray deposition results fall into two major categories: (1) continuous spray of films onto conducting substrates and (2) spray of isolated droplets onto insulating substrates.