Nature – Zhu et al. (2023): Continuous carbon capture in an electrochemical solid-electrolyte reactor
Peng Zhu, Zhen-Yu Wu, Ahmad Elgazzar, Changxin Dong, Tae-Ung Wi, Feng-Yang Chen, Yang Xia, Yuge Feng, Mohsen Shakouri, Jung Yoon (Timothy) Kim, Zhiwei Fang, T. Alan Hatton, Haotian Wang IN: Nature 618, 959–966 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06060-1
Here the authors demonstrate a continuous electrochemical carbon-capture design by coupling oxygen/water (O2/H2O) redox couple with a modular solid-electrolyte reactor. By performing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) redox electrolysis, their device can efficiently absorb dilute carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules at the high-alkaline cathode–membrane interface to form carbonate ions, followed by a neutralization process through the proton flux from the anode to continuously output a high-purity (>99%) CO2 stream from the middle solid-electrolyte layer. No chemical inputs were needed nor side products generated during the whole carbon absorption/release process.