Electrolysis of CO2 to Syngas in Bipolar Membrane-Based Electrochemical Cells
Abstract
The electrolysis of CO 2 to syngas (CO + H 2 ) using nonprecious metal electrocatalysts was studied in bipolar membrane-based electrochemical cells. Electrolysis was carried out using aqueous bicarbonate and humidified gaseous CO 2 on the cathode side of the cell, with Ag or Bi/ionic liquid cathode electrocatalysts. In both cases, stable currents were observed over a period of hours with an aqueous alkaline electrolyte and NiFeO x electrocatalyst on the anode side of the cell. In contrast, the performance of the cells degraded rapidly when conventional anion- and cation-exchange membranes were used in place of the bipolar membrane. In agreement with earlier reports, the Faradaic efficiency for CO 2 reduction to CO was high at low overpotential. In the liquid-phase bipolar membrane cell, the Faradaic efficiency was stable at about 50% at 30 mA/cm 2 current density. In the gas-phase cell, current densities up to 200 mA/cm 2 could be obtained, albeit at lower Faradaic efficiency for CO production. At low overpotentials in the gas-phase cathode cell, the Faradaic efficiency for CO production was initially high but dropped within 1 h, most likely because of dewetting of the ionic liquid from the Bi catalyst surface. The effective management of protons in bipolar membrane cells enables stable operation and the possibility of practical CO 2 electrolysis at high current densities.
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Ma et al. later produced a fourfold increase in partial current density of CO when integrating carbon foam as the supporting material in place of carbon black.
“In a later report, they produced a fourfold increase in partial current density of CO when integrating carbon foam as the supporting material in place of carbon black.[185]”
From Electrochemical CO <sub>2</sub> Reduction into Chemical Feedstocks: From Mechanistic Electrocatalysis Models to System Design (2019) · cites this paper as [185]
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- Authors
- Li, Y. C., Zhou, D., Yan, Z., Gonçalves, R. H., Salvatore, D. A., Berlinguette, C. P., & Mallouk, T. E.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Mallouk, Thomas E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- ACS Energy Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2016-11-11
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1149-1153
- ISSN
- 2380-8195 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2553791386
- Cited by
- 313
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 9
- FWCI
- 5.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Energy Letters (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Basic Energy Sciences (DE-FG02-07ER15911)
- Killam Trusts
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
- Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Process Chemistry and Technology › Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Keywords
- CO2 electrolysis, syngas production, non-precious metal electrocatalysts, silver cathode, bicarbonate electrolyte, Faradaic efficiency, dewetting, alkaline water electrolysis, current density
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