能源化学(英文) ›› 2017, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (5): 839-853.DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2017.07.003

• REVIEW • 上一篇    下一篇

Co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O in high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells:Recent advance in cathodes

Xiaomin Zhanga, Yuefeng Songa,b, Guoxiong Wanga, Xinhe Baoa   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
  • 收稿日期:2017-06-06 修回日期:2017-07-04 出版日期:2017-09-15 发布日期:2017-11-10
  • 通讯作者: Guoxiong Wang,E-mail addresses:wanggx@dicp.ac.cn;Xinhe Bao,E-mail addresses:xhbao@dicp.ac.cn
  • 作者简介:Xiaomin Zhang is a postdoctoral researcher of State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP). She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from DICP, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2015. Her research interests are in the areas of highly efficient electrode materials and processes for electrochemical energy conversion and storage, especially high temperature electrolysis of CO2/H2O using solid oxide electrolytic cells (SOECs);Yuefeng Song is currently studying for a Ph.D. degree from DICP, CAS. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Jilin University in 2014. His research interests are electrochemical energy storage and conversion, particularly focusing on the electrochemical reduction of CO2/H2O at high temperature.
  • 基金资助:

    We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grants 2016YFB0600901 and 2013CB933100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21573222 and 91545202), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB17020200) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (NO. 2016M600220).

Co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O in high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells:Recent advance in cathodes

Xiaomin Zhanga, Yuefeng Songa,b, Guoxiong Wanga, Xinhe Baoa   

  1. a State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China;
    b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
  • Received:2017-06-06 Revised:2017-07-04 Online:2017-09-15 Published:2017-11-10
  • Contact: Guoxiong Wang,E-mail addresses:wanggx@dicp.ac.cn;Xinhe Bao,E-mail addresses:xhbao@dicp.ac.cn
  • Supported by:

    We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grants 2016YFB0600901 and 2013CB933100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21573222 and 91545202), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB17020200) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (NO. 2016M600220).

摘要: Co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O using high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) into valuable chemicals has attracted great attentions recently due to the high conversion and energy efficiency, which provides opportunities of reducing CO2 emission, mitigating global warming and storing intermittent renewable energies. A single SOEC typically consists of an ion conducting electrolyte, an anode and a cathode where the co-electrolysis reaction takes place. The high operating temperature and difficult activated carbon-oxygen double-bond of CO2 put forward strict requirements for SOEC cathode. Great efforts are being devoted to develop suitable cathode materials with high catalytic activity and excellent long-term stability for CO2/H2O electro-reduction. The so far cathode material development is the key point of this review and alternative strategies of high-performance cathode material preparation is proposed. Understanding the mechanism of CO2/H2O electro-reduction is beneficial to highly active cathode design and optimization. Thus the possible reaction mechanism is also discussed. Especially, a method in combination with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement, distribution functions of relaxation times (DRT) calculation, complex nonlinear least square (CNLS) fitting and operando ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) characterization is introduced to correctly disclose the reaction mechanism of CO2/H2O co-electrolysis. Finally, different reaction modes of the CO2/H2O coelectrolysis in SOECs are summarized to offer new strategies to enhance the CO2 conversion. Otherwise, developing SOECs operating at 300-600℃ can integrate the electrochemical reduction and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction to convert the CO2/H2O into more valuable chemicals, which will be a new research direction in the future.

关键词: SOECs, Co-electrolysis, Carbon dioxide, Steam, Cathode

Abstract: Co-electrolysis of CO2 and H2O using high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) into valuable chemicals has attracted great attentions recently due to the high conversion and energy efficiency, which provides opportunities of reducing CO2 emission, mitigating global warming and storing intermittent renewable energies. A single SOEC typically consists of an ion conducting electrolyte, an anode and a cathode where the co-electrolysis reaction takes place. The high operating temperature and difficult activated carbon-oxygen double-bond of CO2 put forward strict requirements for SOEC cathode. Great efforts are being devoted to develop suitable cathode materials with high catalytic activity and excellent long-term stability for CO2/H2O electro-reduction. The so far cathode material development is the key point of this review and alternative strategies of high-performance cathode material preparation is proposed. Understanding the mechanism of CO2/H2O electro-reduction is beneficial to highly active cathode design and optimization. Thus the possible reaction mechanism is also discussed. Especially, a method in combination with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement, distribution functions of relaxation times (DRT) calculation, complex nonlinear least square (CNLS) fitting and operando ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) characterization is introduced to correctly disclose the reaction mechanism of CO2/H2O co-electrolysis. Finally, different reaction modes of the CO2/H2O coelectrolysis in SOECs are summarized to offer new strategies to enhance the CO2 conversion. Otherwise, developing SOECs operating at 300-600℃ can integrate the electrochemical reduction and the Fischer-Tropsch reaction to convert the CO2/H2O into more valuable chemicals, which will be a new research direction in the future.

Key words: SOECs, Co-electrolysis, Carbon dioxide, Steam, Cathode