Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Our society must rapidly reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a major climate disaster. To meet the emissions reduction target, significant research efforts towards both carbon conversion and integration of renewable energy sources must be made. Specifically, converting CO2 captured from the atmosphere into useful carbon products via CO2 electrolyzers can directly alleviate the CO2 levels in our atmosphere. Additionally, water electrolysis can buffer the intermittency of renewable energy sources via conversion of excess energy into hydrogen, which can then be used to produce electricity via fuel cells. Despite the promise, several challenges remain for the wide adoption of these technologies, such as usage of precious group metals (PGMs), low energy efficiency and conversion rates, and poor durability. One of the main causes of excessive PGMs and poor performance and durability stem from the conventional electrode structure. Conventional electrodes are typically fabricated via spraying, slot-die coating, or rod coating, and the uncontrolled ink drying process leads to a randomized electrode structure. Specifically, the random distribution of ionomers (for cation/anion transport), pores (for liquid/gas transport), and catalyst particles (for electron transport and catalysis) in the electrode leads to tortuous transport pathways of all species. These tortuous networks cause reductions in electrochemical surface area (ECSA), diffusivity and conductivity of species, and durability. The objectives of this research program are to design, fabricate, and test advanced electrode structures for hydrogen fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and CO2 electrolyzers. To-date, studies related to device-scale electrode structures remain severely limited. Alternative electrode structures will be designed to address specific challenges faced by different electrochemical energy devices, fabricated via micro fabrication techniques, pore-formers, self-assembly, and optimization of electrode compositions. The electrode structures and their functionality will be validated through advanced characterization techniques such as synchrotron X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, electrochemical analysis, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The expertise that we will develop can synergize with catalyst synthesis research, by creating electrode structures tailored for specific catalysts to suppress their disadvantages and amplify their advantages. Overall, the advanced electrode structures have enormous potential for achieving breakthrough performance and durability of electrochemical energy systems, accelerating the establishment of a clean energy infrastructure. HQPs trained through this program will become next generation electrochemical engineers equipped with unique technical skills that are heavily demanded by top companies and research institutions in Canada and globally.