Plasmonic gas diffusion reactor for CO2 conversion to high-value chemicals

Industry, government, and private investment in CO₂ capture is growing to address climate change. Without carbon utilization, however, high costs impede large scale capture efforts. Alexander Al Zubeidi, a Stanford post doc in the D-Lab, has developed an inexpensive, scalable gas flow cell based system to convert atmospheric CO₂ to other hydrocarbon based chemicals (like ethylene) using light and excess renewable electricity.

In the prototype system, gas enters the reactor cell via a gas flow channel, flows over the gas diffusion electrode covered in copper nanoparticles and electrolyte solution at ambient temperature. Visible light (450-800 nm) enters through the cell window, exciting copper nanoparticle electrons that reduce CO₂ to ethylene. These electrolyzers can produce hydrocarbon based chemicals and syngas, a mixture of H₂ and O₂. Unlike competing electrolyzers that are built to operate on large scales, with long payback periods that typically require high capacity factors, the D-Lab system (Figure 2) can operate when renewable energy is in excess, generating net-zero emissions and converting point-source CO₂ emissions to high-value products. This inexpensive, scalable plasmonic gas flow reactor system provides cost effective carbon capture CO₂ gas separation and storage while producing valuable feedstocks for the chemical industry or zero-carbon fuels.

Stage of Development – Proof of Concept Prototype