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US 2021/0262102 A1Published application
Device for solar light driven co2 reduction in water
AssigneesUniversite De Paris, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique, Universite De Nantes
InventorsMarc ROBERT, Etienne BOUTIN, Palas Baran PATI, Fabrice ODOBEL, Nicolas BARREAU
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Abstract
Method and photo-electrochemical system using Cu(In,Ga)Se2 CIGS for reducing electrochemically CO2 into CO using as catalyst a metal complex with quaterpyridine ligand, the electrochemical cell comprising a cathode, an anode, a cathodic electrolyte comprising water as the solvent, and a power supply providing the energy necessary to trigger the electrochemical reactions.
Claims20
A photo-electrochemical system to reduce CO2 into CO, comprising an electrochemical cell with:
- an anodic compartment with:
- an anode with a current collector,
- an anodic electrolyte solution comprising a solvent, and an anodic supporting electrolyte, the solvent being water;
- a cathodic compartment with:
- a cathodic electrolyte solution comprising the solvent, and a cathodic supporting electrolyte, the solvent being water,
- a channel for flowing the reagent gas CO2 into the cathodic electrolyte solution,
- a photo-electrocatalytic electrode comprising a multilayer structure composed of:
- a photovoltaic cell in charge of absorbing light and providing the energy necessary to trigger the photoelectrochemical reactions involving the reagent, which comprises:
- a support layer,
- a conductive layer, in contact with the support layer and connected to the anode through a wire,
- a first layer of Cu(Inx,Gay)Se2 CIGS or an alloy of Cu(Inx,Gay)SewSz;
- in contact with the conductive layer, x being comprised in between 0 and 1, and y=1-x and w comprised in between 0 and 2 with z=2-w;
- a second layer having material selected in the group comprising CdS, ZnS, in contact with the first layer,
- the first and the second layer forming the photovoltaic junction to generate electrons,
- a protecting layer, in contact with the second layer, which presents one or several metallic oxide layers,
- a final molecular layer which is a molecular catalyst grafted onto the surface of the protecting layer to electrochemically reduce CO2 into CO, located at the end of the multilayer and in contact with the cathodic electrolyte solution.
13 more elements
Photo-electrochemical system to reduce CO2 into CO, comprising an electrochemical cell with:
- an anodic compartment with:
- an anode with a current collector,
- an anodic electrolyte solution comprising a solvent, and an anodic supporting electrolyte, the solvent being water;
- a cathodic compartment with:
- a cathodic electrolyte solution comprising the solvent, and a cathodic supporting electrolyte, the solvent being water,
- a channel for flowing the reagent gas CO2 into the electrolyte solution,
- a cathode which comprises, a current collector which is connected in series with a photovoltaic cell in charge of absorbing light and providing the energy necessary to trigger the photoelectrochemical reactions involving the reagent,
- the photovoltaic cell being situated outside the cathodic electrolyte and connected to the cathode through a wire,
- the photovoltaic cell comprising:
- a support layer,
- a conductive layer connected to the anode through a wire, in contact with the support layer,
- a first layer having material which is Cu(Inx, Gay)Se2 CIGS or an alloy of Cu(Inx, Gay)Sew Sz, x being comprised in between 0 and 1, and y=1-x and w comprised in between 0 and 2 with z=2-w,
- a second layer having material selected in the group comprising:
- CdS, ZnS, in contact with the first layer, the first layer and the second layer forming the photovoltaic junction to generate electrons;
- a third layer selected in the group comprising:
- ZnO or AZO (aluminum doped zinc oxide), Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), which is linked to the cathode,
- the cathode having on the current collector a carbon-based gas diffusion electrode and a molecular catalyst to electrochemically reduce CO2 into CO, which is:
- grafted or deposited on the top of the carbon electrode, to be in the cathodic electrolyte, or
- grafted or deposited on top of a metallic oxide layer.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.