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Investigating Electrode Flooding in a Flowing Electrolyte, Gas‐Fed Carbon Dioxide Electrolyzer
Author(s) -
Leonard McLain E.,
Clarke Lauren E.,
FornerCuenca Antoni,
Brown Steven M.,
Brushett Fikile R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201902547
Subject(s) - electrolyte , electrode , faradaic current , chemical engineering , gaseous diffusion , electrochemistry , carbonation , electrolysis , cathode , chemistry , gas diffusion electrode , faraday efficiency , inorganic chemistry , alkalinity , materials science , electrode potential , organic chemistry , engineering
Managing the gas–liquid interface within gas‐diffusion electrodes (GDEs) is key to maintaining high product selectivities in carbon dioxide electroreduction. By screening silver‐catalyzed GDEs over a range of applied current densities, an inverse correlation was observed between carbon monoxide selectivity and the electrochemical double‐layer capacitance, a proxy for wetted electrode area. Plotting current‐dependent performance as a function of cumulative charge led to data collapse onto a single sigmoidal curve indicating that the passage of faradaic current accelerates flooding. It was hypothesized that high cathode alkalinity, driven by both initial electrolyte conditions and cathode half‐reactions, promotes carbonate formation and precipitation which, in turn, facilitates electrolyte permeation. This mechanism was reinforced by the observations that post‐test GDEs retain less hydrophobicity than pristine materials and that water‐rinsing and drying electrodes temporarily recovers peak selectivity. This knowledge offers an opportunity to design electrodes with greater carbonation tolerance to improve device longevity.