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Scaled CO Electroreduction to Alcohols

Author

Listed:
  • Panagiotis Papangelakis

    (University of Toronto)

  • Colin P. O’Brien

    (University of Toronto
    Suite 406)

  • Ali Shayesteh Zeraati

    (University of Toronto
    University of Toronto)

  • Shijie Liu

    (University of Toronto)

  • Alexander Paik

    (University of Toronto)

  • Vivian Nelson

    (University of Toronto)

  • Sungjin Park

    (University of Toronto)

  • Yurou Celine Xiao

    (University of Toronto)

  • Roham Dorakhan

    (University of Toronto)

  • Puhua Sun

    (University of Toronto)

  • Jinhong Wu

    (University of Toronto)

  • Christine M. Gabardo

    (Suite 406)

  • Ning Wang

    (University of Toronto)

  • Rui Kai Miao

    (University of Toronto)

  • Edward H. Sargent

    (University of Toronto
    Northwestern University)

  • David Sinton

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

Electrocatalysis offers a promising route to convert CO2 into alcohols, which is most efficient in a two-step cascade reaction with CO2-to-CO followed by CO-to-alcohol. However, current alcohol-producing CO2/CO electrolyzers suffer from low selectivity or alcohol crossover, resulting in alcohol concentrations of less than 1%, which are further diluted in downstream cold-traps. As a result, electrocatalytic alcohol production has yet to be scaled beyond the lab (1-10 cm2). Here, we reverse the electroosmotic drag of water using a cation exchange membrane assembly, enabling the recovery of over 85% of alcohol products at a concentration of 6 wt.%. We develop a multi-step condenser strategy to separate the produced alcohols from the effluent gas stream without dilution. Scaling up this approach to an 800 cm2 cell resulted in an output of 200 mL alcohol/day.

Suggested Citation

  • Panagiotis Papangelakis & Colin P. O’Brien & Ali Shayesteh Zeraati & Shijie Liu & Alexander Paik & Vivian Nelson & Sungjin Park & Yurou Celine Xiao & Roham Dorakhan & Puhua Sun & Jinhong Wu & Christin, 2025. "Scaled CO Electroreduction to Alcohols," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59180-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59180-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haiping Xu & Dominic Rebollar & Haiying He & Lina Chong & Yuzi Liu & Cong Liu & Cheng-Jun Sun & Tao Li & John V. Muntean & Randall E. Winans & Di-Jia Liu & Tao Xu, 2020. "Highly selective electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to ethanol by metallic clusters dynamically formed from atomically dispersed copper," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(8), pages 623-632, August.
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