Integrating hydrogen utilization in CO₂ electrolysis with reduced energy loss

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction using sustainable energy is a promising approach of synthesizing chemicals and fuels, yet is highly energy intensive. The oxygen evolution reaction is particularly problematic, which is kinetically sluggish and causes anodic carbon loss. In this context, we couple CO₂ electrolysis with hydrogen oxidation reaction in a single electrochemical cell. A Ni(OH)₂/NiOOH mediator is used to fully suppress the anodic carbon loss and hydrogen oxidation catalyst poisoning by migrated reaction products. This cell is highly flexible in producing either gaseous (CO) or soluble (formate) products with high selectivity (up to 95.3%) and stability (>100 h) at voltages below 0.9 V (50 mA cm⁻²). Importantly, thanks to the "transferred" oxygen evolution reaction to a water electrolyzer with thermodynamically and kinetically favored reaction conditions, the total polarization loss and energy consumption of our H₂-integrated CO₂ reduction reaction, including those for hydrogen generation, are reduced up to 22% and 42%, respectively. This work demonstrates the opportunity of combining CO₂ electrolysis with the hydrogen economy, paving the way to the possible integration of various emerging energy conversion and storage approaches for improved energy/cost effectiveness.

Xiaoyi Jiang, Le Ke, Kai Zhao, Xiaoyu Yan, Hongbo Wang, Xiaojuan Cao, Yuchen Liu, Lingjiao Li, Yifei Sun, Zhiping Wang, Dai Dang, Ning Yan