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A cation-functionalized layer for ethylene electrosynthesis via CO reduction paired with H2 oxidation in a pure-water-fed solid-state electrolyser
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DOI：10.1038/s41560-026-01990-2.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
As industrial demand for electricity grows, the high energy cost of electrifying chemical production is of further-increased concern: the most efficient oxygen-evolution-coupled ethylene electrosynthesis system requires >130 GJelectricity per ton of C2H4 and is limited to <10-hour stability when powered using intermittent electricity. Here we pursued ethylene electroproduction employing a more energetic feedstock—syngas—available from thermo-gasification, to reduce electricity consumption of the whole ethylene production process, and we constructed an all-gas-fed system to avoid caustic electrolyte. We identified a key challenge in such a system: when no alkali anolyte was present, known solid-state electrolytes were ineffective in activating the CO-to-ethylene transformation. We therefore explored a suite of candidate ionomers and evaluated codesign for high ion-exchange capacity united with optimized cation binding. We identify polyacrylate as an efficient host that enables C2H4 production at 1.2 V and 100 mA cm−2 (49 GJelectricity per ton of C2H4) in the solid-state system that operates stably for over 80 hours and after 30 on/off cycles when powered using intermittent electricity. Electroreduction of CO is an emerging route to produce multicarbon molecules, but achieving this efficiently in solid-state devices is challenging. Here the authors develop a cation-functionalized layer using polyacrylate in a solid-state electrolyser that produces ethylene stably and efficiently from syngas.
Keywords:
Carbon capture and storage
Electrocatalysis
Electrochemistry
Solar fuels
Energy
general
Energy Policy
Economics and Management
Energy Systems
Energy Storage
Renewable and Green Energy