An Interfacial Engineering Approach toward Operation of a Porous Solid Electrolyte CO₂ Electrolyzer

Waste CO2 can be repurposed as a carbon feedstock for synthesizing valuable chemicals via CO2 electrolysis. Porous solid electrolyte (PSE) CO2 electrolysis has been demonstrated as an economically viable method to produce high purity products. This work applies an interfacial engineering approach to determine key factors to improve performance in PSE CO2 electrolyzers. We standardize the assembly by binding the ionic resin into an ionomer wafer and utilize Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to design gaskets for uniform fluid flow. We employ the distribution of relaxation times (DRT) method to determine that anionic-conducting interfaces are the primary contributor to energy losses. To address this, we demonstrate that enhancing the contact between the cathode and the anion exchange membrane (AEM) and the AEM-ionic resin interface allows for low overpotential in deionized water operation.