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Materials challenges on the path to gigatonne CO2 electrolysis

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Abstract

CO2 electroreduction (CO2E) is one promising strategy towards decarbonization, offering a path to produce widely used chemicals such as fuels or manufacturing feedstocks using renewable energy and waste CO2 (as opposed to fossil fuels). CO2E performance at the laboratory scale is advancing quickly, including ongoing scale-up and industrialization efforts. To address global CO2 emissions (~37 Gt per year), CO2 electrolysers and components, as well as upstream and downstream associated technologies, must be deployed at the gigawatt scale. This entails considerable challenges beyond performance, such as resource availability, deployment readability and end-of-life system management, which are today overlooked. In this Review, we analyse the impending resource challenges as CO2E deployment approaches gigatonne scale, considering a life cycle assessment focused on the associated materials and their corresponding global warming impact. We identify scalability bottlenecks related to membranes, electrode supports and anode materials, among others, and discuss the need for more stable carbon-efficient systems and materials recycling strategies. We conclude with potential approaches to rationally design materials towards sustainable CO2 capture and electrolysis at the gigatonne scale.

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Fig. 1: CO2E alternative to conventional fuels and chemicals synthesis.
Fig. 2: Components of CO2 electrochemical cells and electrolyser stacks.
Fig. 3: Materials and resources breakdown for CO2E systems.
Fig. 4: Carbon capture mature technologies.
Fig. 5: Material requirements and corresponding GWIs for scaling up CO2 electroreduction technology to the gigatonne level.
Fig. 6: Open challenges and guidelines towards a more sustainable CO2E.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially funded by CEX2019-000910-S (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), Fundació Cellex, Fundació Mir-Puig and Generalitat de Catalunya through CERCA and the La Caixa Foundation (100010434, EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 847648). B.B. acknowledges funding from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE ‘El FSE invierte en tu futuro’ (PRE2019-088522). V.G. acknowledges the Severo Ochoa Excellence Post-doctoral Fellowship (CEX2019-000910-S). A.P.-S. acknowledges funding (PRE2021-098995) from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE+. L.S.M. acknowledges funding from ICFO Student Research Fellowship — Spring 2021 programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICFO — Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain

    Blanca Belsa, Lu Xia, Viktoria Golovanova, Bárbara Polesso, Adrián Pinilla-Sánchez, Lara San Martín & F. Pelayo García de Arquer

  2. CFIS — Centre de Formació Interdisciplinària Superior, UPC — Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Lara San Martín

  3. School of Chemistry and Physics, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Jiaye Ye

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Smith Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    Cao-Thang Dinh

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  1. Blanca Belsa
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F.P.G.d.A. and B.B. conceptualized the article. B.B., L.X., V.G., B.P. and A.P.-S. researched data for the article. B.B. wrote the initial draft. All authors contributed to the discussion of content and writing of the manuscript, added substantial thoughts and revised the manuscript in a collaborative manner.

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Belsa, B., Xia, L., Golovanova, V. et al. Materials challenges on the path to gigatonne CO2 electrolysis. Nat Rev Mater (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-024-00696-9

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