Measuring the Electrolyte Distribution in Silver Gas Diffusion Electrodes during CO2 Electroreduction Using Operando Synchrotron Tomography
Authors: Osiewacz Jens , Hilger Andre , Hoffmann Hendrik , Löffelholz Marco , Paulisch Melanie Cornelia , Turek Thomas 
Published: August 2024

Electrochemical CO2 reduction (eCO2R) has emerged as a promising technology to support the shift away from fossil fuels in the chemical industry. When coupled with renewable energies it allows for an overall carbon-negative process, while enabling CO2 as a carbon source for the production of commodity chemicals. Efficient eCO2R requires gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) that provide a large wetted surface area inside the porous system, while also preserving gaseous diffusion pathways for CO2 mass transport through their hydrophobicity. Under the high cathodic overpotential in eCO2R, electrowetting diminishes the hydrophobicity of the GDE and can lead to excessive flooding of the porous system [1]. This severely hinders the CO2 mass transport and thus gives rise to the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), lowering the Faradaic efficiency of the process. Therefore, understanding the flooding behavior of GDEs is of major interest for further development of the process.

Mathematic models can be applied here to describe the flooding state under the influence of electrowetting and elucidate its influence on the gas transport through the GDE. The validation of such models requires direct experimental measurements of the electrolyte saturation during eCO2R, which can be accomplished with the use of synchrotron radiation [2].

In this work, experimental results for the direct measurement of the electrolyte saturation during eCO2R in sprayed silver GDEs are presented. In a first, these measurements were obtained in operando synchrotron tomography experiments, utilizing a high beam energy to penetrate through the 3 mm diameter GDE in the in-plane direction. The results indicate a higher beam absorption towards the gas side of the GDE, as well as higher absorption at increased current density. Key to the interpretation of these results is the disentanglement of the effects of concentration increase due to migration in the electric field and the actual increase in electrolyte saturation. The experimental results are used to validate a continuum model for a sprayed silver GDE in eCO2R which includes the effect of electrowetting on flooding behavior by introducing capillary pressure – saturation and contact angle – potential correlations [3]. A good agreement between model and tomography results is reached, showing an interplay between concentration increase and flooding effects.

[1] Bienen, F., Paulisch, M. C., Mager, T., Osiewacz, J., Nazari, M., Osenberg, M., Ellendorff, B., Turek, T., Nieken, U., Manke, I., & Friedrich, K. A., Investigating the electrowetting of silver‐based gas‐diffusion electrodes during oxygen reduction reaction with electrochemical and optical methods. Electrochemical Science Advances (2022) e2100158.

[2] Hoffmann, H., Paulisch, M. C., Gebhard, M., Osiewacz, J., Kutter, M., Hilger, A., Arlt, T., Kardjilov, N., Ellendorff, B., Beckmann, F., Markötter, H., Luik, M., Turek, T., Manke, I., & Roth, C., Development of a Modular Operando Cell for X-ray Imaging of Strongly Absorbing Silver-Based Gas Diffusion Electrodes. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 169 (2022) 044508.

[3] Osiewacz, J., Löffelholz, M., Turek, T., Modeling the Influence of Electrolyte Distribution in Silver Gas Diffusion Electrodes for CO2 Electroreduction. ECS Meeting Abstracts 01 (2023) 1727.

Figure 1