New Materials for Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Capture

Carbon dioxide capture and storage is an important greenhouse gas mitigation technology that can help tackle the climate crisis. Traditional amine technology is well established for carbon capture, but has limitations that include, large energy costs from thermal regeneration, amine degradation and amine evaporation. This project will explore an emerging approach that uses an electrochemical cell to run the carbon dioxide capture cycle. The promise of this approach is a higher energy efficiency for carbon dioxide capture, and facile integration with the electric grid, but materials development for this application remains in its infancy. In this project we will develop new electrode materials and test their performance for electrochemical carbon dioxide capture using electrochemistry and gas adsorption methods. We are targeting materials with (i) large carbon dioxide adsorption capacities, (ii) stable cycling performance under realistic conditions, and (iii) low regeneration energies via electrochemical swing adsorption. We will further use spectroscopy to understand the molecular processes that underpin the electrochemical capture process. This project can lead to improved materials that can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.