ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Catal.
Sec. Electrocatalysis
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fctls.2025.1657848
This article is part of the Research TopicRevolutionizing Energy with Electrocatalysis: From Hydrogen Production to CO2 ReductionView all articles
Experimental Study of Operating Parameters in Zero-Gap CO2 Electrolysis
Provisionally accepted
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Electrochemical CO2 reduction represents a promising approach for mitigating carbon emissions while generating value-added fuels and chemicals. While catalyst design mainly dictates activity and product selectivity, system-level performance is strongly influenced by the interplay between electrolyzer configuration and operating parameters. In this study, a zero-gap membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer incorporating a cation exchange membrane is systematically investigated under practical considerations. The applicable operating window is successfully extended to elevated temperatures and pressures, demonstrating robust practicality and efficient conversion. Comprehensive evaluation of cell voltage, Faradaic efficiency, and energy efficiency reveals that a balanced combination of catalyst loading, electrolyte concentration, and flow rate enables high CO selectivity (>90%) and energy efficiency exceeding 40% at moderate current density (100 mA/cm2). By integrating multiple 2 operational parameters, this work advances the application of cation exchange membrane based CO2 electrolysis and offers practical insights for bridging laboratory research and scalable implementation.
Keywords: Electrocatalysis, CO2 reduction, productivity, energy efficiency, multiparameter study
Received: 01 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Ait Aissa, Huang, Holtappels, Liu and Dittmeyer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Siyu Zhong, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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