Energy and environmental science, the flagship journal in the field of energy, published the breakthrough in the research of CO2 electrolyzers by Xiao Li and Zhuang Lin research groups of Wuhan University

Recently, energy & Environmental Science, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of chemistry in the field of energy, published online the latest research progress on the electrochemical transformation of CO 2 by Xiao Li and Zhuang Lin of the school of chemistry and molecular science, Wuhan University The conversion of CO2 into liquid fuel or high value-added chemicals is a very popular research field in recent years, among which electrochemical method is the most promising way, because electrochemical can directly use the power generated by renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy and so on However, the prospect of electrochemical CO 2 reduction technology has been controversial Some researchers worry that the low solubility of CO 2 in aqueous solution (about 40 mmol / L) will limit the industrial application of this technology In order to break the limitation of CO 2 solubility, it is necessary to use gas diffusion electrode, especially polymer electrolyte to replace the traditional liquid electrolyte However, due to the lack of suitable high performance alkaline polymer electrolyte (APE), most of the current CO 2 electrolyzers have to use the design of flowing electrolyte Xiao Li and Zhuang Lin research groups of Wuhan University have carried out research on alkaline polyelectrolyte fuel cell (apefc) for nearly 20 years, and made breakthroughs in materials, catalysis and devices in recent years (nature commun 2019, 10, 1506; angel Chem Int ed 2019, 58, 1442) At the same time, they actively explore the application of high-performance ape in CO2 electrolyzer, and finally make an important breakthrough Ape based CO 2 electrolyzer works in mild condition (room temperature to 90 ℃), using pure water operation, without adding any liquid electrolyte At 60 ℃, the current density of the electrolyzer is as high as 500 mA / cm 2 @ 3V, which is equivalent to that of industrial water electrolysis, and the Faraday efficiency of CO 2 conversion to CO is as high as 90% This is a research result with great prospect of industrial application Vividly speaking, the industrial conversion of CO2 can be realized by using a lithium-ion battery This progress will also completely eliminate the concerns of the industry about the electrochemical conversion technology of CO2 At the same time, due to the mild working conditions (without high temperature and pressure), the technical cost can be greatly reduced The next research goal is to convert CO2 into ethylene in depth to get rid of oil dependence The first authors of this paper are Yin zhenglei and Peng Hanqing, who are respectively engaged in the research of CO2 electrolyzer and high performance ape.