Solvent‐Free Manufacturing of Multifunctional Gas Diffusion Electrode Architectures for Enhanced CO <sub>2</sub> Conversion From Low‐Concentration Streams

ABSTRACT Electrochemical CO 2 reduction offers a sustainable route to convert greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals and fuels, although unsatisfactory selectivity and sluggish kinetics at low CO 2 concentrations (5–15 vol.%) have hampered its deployment. This work invents a tandem gas diffusion electrode (GDE) leveraging hierarchically engineered microgranules consisting of metal–organic‐frameworks (MOFs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and copper nanoparticles to spatially integrate CO 2 pre‐concentration, CO generation, and C─C coupling, significantly enhancing CO 2 ‐to‐C 2 product selectivity via closely coupled active zones. A key innovation lies in the solvent‐free manufacturing of microgranule‐loaded GDEs, which circumvents the dispersion limitations of solvent‐based methods and enables uniform, scalable integration for tandem GDEs targeting low‐concentration CO 2 reduction. The fabricated tandem GDE demonstrates an impressive 39% ± 1% Faradaic efficiency toward C 2 H 4 (FE C2H4 ) and a record high partial current density of 99 mA cm −2 (j C2H4 ) at a 15 vol.% CO 2 stream. To our knowledge, this represents the highest performance reported for low‐concentration CO 2 streams.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-03-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.74915
Primary Topic
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Solvent‐Free Manufacturing of Multifunctional Gas Diffusion Electrode Architectures for Enhanced CO 2 Conversion From Low‐Concentration Streams

Kai Wu, Heng Pan, Ahmed Badreldin, Shengyao Wang et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
article

Solvent‐Free Manufacturing of Multifunctional Gas Diffusion Electrode Architectures for Enhanced CO 2 Conversion From Low‐Concentration Streams

Kai Wu, Heng Pan, Ahmed Badreldin, Shengyao Wang, Zongsu Han, Hong‐Cai Zhou, Carter Racine, Ying Li
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electrochemical CO 2 reduction offers a sustainable route to convert greenhouse gases into valuable chemicals and fuels, although unsatisfactory selectivity and sluggish kinetics at low CO 2 concentrations (5–15 vol.%) have hampered its deployment. This work invents a tandem gas diffusion electrode (GDE) leveraging hierarchically engineered microgranules consisting of metal–organic‐frameworks (MOFs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and copper nanoparticles to spatially integrate CO 2 pre‐concentration, CO generation, and C─C coupling, significantly enhancing CO 2 ‐to‐C 2 product selectivity via closely coupled active zones. A key innovation lies in the solvent‐free manufacturing of microgranule‐loaded GDEs, which circumvents the dispersion limitations of solvent‐based methods and enables uniform, scalable integration for tandem GDEs targeting low‐concentration CO 2 reduction. The fabricated tandem GDE demonstrates an impressive 39% ± 1% Faradaic efficiency toward C 2 H 4 (FE C2H4 ) and a record high partial current density of 99 mA cm −2 (j C2H4 ) at a 15 vol.% CO 2 stream. To our knowledge, this represents the highest performance reported for low‐concentration CO 2 streams.

Advanced Functional Materials
Walker (United States) (US), Texas A&M University (US)
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
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